LIBRARY 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 
DAVIS 


LIBRARY 


THE  GENERAL  MANAGER'S  STORY 


And  then  1  swept  by  like  a  cyclone."  —  See  p.  158. 

Frontispiece. 


THE 


GENERAL  MANAGER'S  STORY 


OLD-TIME    REMINISCENCES   OF  RAILROADING 
IN  THE   UNITED   STATES 


BY 
HERBERT   ELLIOTT   HAMBLEN 

AUTHOR  OF  "  ON  MANY  SEAS " 


t  M 

II 


'Ntfo    gfltfc 

THE    MACMILLAN   COMPANY 

LONDON  :   MACMILLAN  &  CO.,  LTD. 
1898 

All  rights  reserved 

LIBRARY 


COPYRIGHT,  1897, 
By  HERBERT  ELLIOTT  HAMBLEN. 

COPYRIGHT,  1898, 
BY  THE  MACMILLAN  COMPANY. 


J.  8.  Gushing  &  Co.  -  Berwick  &  Smith 
Norwood  Mass.  U.S.A. 


To 
THE  RAILROAD  MEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 


CONTENTS 


PAGE 

INTRODUCTION  .  i 


CHAPTER  I 
LEAVES  HOME .       .       5 

CHAPTER  II 
LEARNING  TO  JUMP     .        .        .       .       .       .       .        .       .      u 

CHAPTER  III 
BREAKING  IN  . 26 

CHAPTER  IV 
A  CLEVER  TRICK       .       ....       ...       .       .      36 

CHAPTER  V 

A  MISTAKE  IN  ORDER       .       .       .  "--  .<      .       •       f       .      46 

CHAPTER  VI 

A  RAILROAD  AUTOCRAT      .       .       ,      w     •       •       •       •      59 

CHAPTER  VII 
CATCHES  A  TARTAR    .       ,       .       .       ,     ,  .       .       *       .      70 

CHAPTER  VIII 

PROMOTED  TO  THE  LEFT  SIDE  .        .       .       .       ...      85 

vii 


yiii  CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  IX 

PAGS 

CHASING  A  RUN- AWAY 109 

CHAPTER   X 
AT  THE  THROTTLE 131 

CHAPTER  XI 
IN  THE  NICK  OF  TIME 151 

CHAPTER  XII 
FIFTY-TWO  HOURS  ON  DUTY 174 

CHAPTER  XIII 
A  TEN  PER  CENT  CUT 200 

CHAPTER  XIV 

WE  STRIKE 2l8 

CHAPTER  XV 
JOYS  OF  TRAMPING 236 

CHAPTER  XVI 
SONS  OF  REST 249 

CHAPTER  XVII 
HIRED  AGAIN 266 

CHAPTER  XVIII 
I  LOSE  MY  NERVE 281 

CHAPTER  XIX 
MY  TURN  AT  LAST :'.  „       .       .    299 


LIST   OF   ILLUSTRATIONS 

"  And  then  I  swept  by  like  a  cyclone  "  (p.  158)   .      Frontispiece 

FACING  PAGE 

"  It  was  certainly  a  high  jump  " 20 

"  I  delighted  in  catching  and  riding  on  the  most  swiftly 

flying  cars  " 32 

"  I  watch  that  grimy  left  hand  on  the  throttle  "  .        .        .  41 

"  Her  engineer  shouted  something  that  we  couldn't  catch  "  44 

"  They  met  exactly  under  the  bridge  "         .        .        .v     .  48 

"  It  wasn't  long  before  I  crawled  under  the  truck "      .  53 

" '  Mr.  Grinnell,  your  engine  truck  centre  casting  is  broken 

all  to  pieces '" '.        .83 

"  We  found  the  gentleman  sitting  with  his  feet  cocked  up 

on  his  desk,  smoking " .        .        .        •        •        •        •  99 

"  *  You've    forced    yourself    on    here    where    you're    not 

wanted'"      .        .        . 116 

"  We  found  grooves  nearly  a  quarter  of  an  inch  deep  "        .  141 

"  She  was  a  beautiful  sight!     No  stack,  no  pilot,  no  head 

lamp"  .        .        ,      '« -,;•.. ."...".        <        .        ,        .  144 

" '  Section  foreman's  got  a  rail  up ' "    .        .        .        .        .  152 

"  And  now  I  saw  ahead  of  me  a  man  in  the  middle  of  the 

track"  .        .        .        .        .        ....        .  156 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 


FACING  PAGE 


"  Looked  along  the  barrel  of  a  big  revolver  "...  200 

"  The  wrecking  train  was  hardly  ever  idle  "...  204 

"  *  Sa-ay !  you've  nominated  about  everybody ' "  .        .        .  216 

"  The  clerks  in  the  offices  were  hustled  out  into  the  yard  "  232 

"  The  night  shut  down  on  a  dreary  scene  of  smoking  deso 
lation  "  234 

Roundhouse  Studies 266 

"  He  nearly  squelched  the  breath  out  of  my  body  "      .        .  297 


THE  GENERAL  MANAGER'S  STORY 


INTRODUCTION 

"  Do  I  remember  my  first  day's  railroading  ?  In 
deed  I  do,  my  boy,  although  it  was  nearly  forty  years 
ago.  Yes,  I  remember  it,  and  every  day's  railroad 
ing  I  have  done  since."  The  speaker  was  General 
Manager  M of  a  great  railroad  system  branch 
ing  out  from  Chicago,  the  lines  of  which  form  the 
connecting  link  between  that  great  metropolis  and 
hundreds  of  cities  and  towns  far  away  on  the  prai 
ries,  or  among  the  mountains,  giving  employment 
to  thousands  of  men,  and  furnishing  the  means  of 

transportation  to  thousands  more.  Mr.  M ,  who 

had  been  a  lifelong  friend  of  my  father,  was  a  fine  old 
gentleman,  with  a  ruddy,  jovial  countenance,  kindly 
blue  eyes,  and  I  think  the  most  beautiful  silvery  hair 
I  have  ever  seen. 

When  he  grasped  your  hand,  and  bade  you  wel 
come,  and  asked  what  he  could  do  for  you,  as  he 
had  done  to  me  the  previous  evening,  on  my  arrival 
at  his  summer  home,  away  up  in  the  glorious  moun 
tains  of  Nevada,  you  felt  a  thrill  as  of  a  gentle  elec- 


2        THE  GENERAL  MANAGER'S  STORY 

trie  shock  go  through  your  veins,  and  your  heart 
went  out  to  the  old  gentleman  at  once. 

I  knew  from  my  father  that  Mr.  M was  a  self- 
made  man,  and  had  worked  his  way  up  from  the 
very  lowest  station  of  railroad  life  by  sheer  force  of 
indomitable  will,  perseverance,  and  fidelity  to  duty, 
until  he  was  then  the  sole  guiding  spirit  in  the  opera 
tion  of  thousands  of  miles  of  a  great  American 
railroad  system,  —  a  position  which  calls  for  great 
managerial  ability. 

He  who  would  hold  such  an  immense  system  in 
the  hollow  of  his  hand,  as  it  were,  must  be  capable 
of  quick  thought  in  an  emergency,  keen  and  abso 
lutely  correct  judgment,  —  for  mistakes  in  railroading 
are  costly  investments,  —  and  a  knowledge  of  the 
business  in  its  minutest  details  that  is  almost  mar 
vellous  to  contemplate. 

How  little  does  the  average  passenger  realize, 
when  he  steps  on  the  sumptuously  furnished  car, 
and  quietly  reads  the  newspaper,  until  the  brakeman 
calls  'out  his  station,  and  he  steps  off  to  go  to  his 
family,  or  his  business,  that  his  train  has  been  under 
the  keen  supervision  of  an  army  of  trained  officials 
and  employees  during  every  minute  of  its  progress ; 
that  its  arrival  at,  and  departure  from,  each  station 
has  been  ticked  over  the  wire  to  the  train  despatcher ; 
that  all  meeting-points  with  other  trains  have  been 
carefully  prepared  for;  that  rules  and  orders  have 
been  issued  providing  for  every  possible  contin 
gency;  that,  in  fact,  as  an  old  railroad  man  said  to 


INTRODUCTION  3 

me  once,  "If  everybody  obeyed  orders,  collisions 
would  be  possible  only  when  brought  about  by  un 
avoidable  accidents." 

These  men  are  carefully  chosen,  and  only  long  and 
faithful  service,  a  strictly  first-class  moral  character, 
and  undoubted  ability  to  perform  the  duties  of  the 
position,  will  insure  their  promotion  to  the  higher 
offices,  or  their  retention  in  them. 

Promotion  on  a  railroad  is  slow,  and  for  merit 
only. 

At  the  head  of  this  band  of  experts,  over  the 
superintendents,  stands  the  General  Manager,  a  walk 
ing  epitome  of  railroad  knowledge.  Tried  by  many 
years  of  service  in  minor  positions  and  proved  trust 
worthy  in  all,  he  is  the  one  chosen  from  many  as  the 
best  fitted  for  this  responsible  position. 

As  I  looked  at  the  old  gentleman  sitting  there  so 
comfortably  in  his  big  rush-bottomed  rocking-chair, 
lazily  blowing  the  smoke  from  his  "  perfecto  "  out 
into  the  cool  starlight,  the  personification  of  ease  and 
wealth,  I  found  it  hard  to  believe  that  those  plump, 
rosy  palms  had  ever  been  calloused  by  contact  with 
the  iron  brake-wheel,  or  the  fireman's  scoop-shovel; 
but  I  knew  they  had,  and  I  knew  too  that  even  now 
he  would  not  hesitate  a  moment  to  leave  his  luxu 
rious  home  and  go  out  in  the  stormiest  night  to  a 
wreck,  to  render  such  assistance  as  his  ripe  experi 
ence  in  all  branches  of  the  service  eminently  fitted 
him  to  give. 

I  had  arrived  in  answer  to  a  cordial  invitation  to 


4        THE  GENERAL  MANAGER'S  STORY 

pass  my  vacation  with  him  in  his  summer  eyrie  half 
way  up  the  mountain  side. 

Born  and  brought  up  in  a  small  railroad  town,  I 
had  always  been  an  ardent  though  bashful  admirer 
of  the  grimy-visaged,  weather-beaten  fellows  who, 
night  and  day,  in  darkness,  fog,  and  storm,  speed 
fearlessly  over  the  glistening  steel  rails  to  their 
journey's  end,  or  down  to  death,  as  their  fate  may 
determine. 

So,  when  I  found  myself  placed  in  such  extremely 
favorable  circumstances  for  obtaining  a  fund  of 
genuine  railroad  lore,  I  was  bound  to  improve  the 
opportunity,  and  gradually  drew  out  from  my  vet 
eran  friend  the  story  which  follows,  and  which  I 
shall  tell  as  nearly  as  possible  in  his  own  words, 
hoping  that  it  may  prove  as  interesting  to  the  reader 
as  it  did  to  me. 


CHAPTER  I 

HIS  EARLY  LIFE  AT  HOME  —  HE  BECOMES  ENAMOURED 
OF  THE  RAILROAD  —  SEES  A  TRAIN  BREAK  IN  TWO 
ON  A  HEAVY  GRADE  —  NEGLECTS  HIS  STUDIES  TO 
WATCH  AND  ADMIRE  THE  TRAINS  —  FAILS  IN  HIS 
EXAMINATIONS  AT  THE  ACADEMY  AND  LEAVES  IN 
DISGRACE  —  TAKING  THE  FIRST  TRAIN  OUT  OF 
TOWN 

MY  father  was  a  stern  puritanical  clergyman,  who 
considered  a  smile  on  the  Sabbath  to  be  a  sin,  and  a 
hearty  laugh,  even  on  a  week  day,  a  grievous  breach 
of  decorum ;  and  as  I  was  always  of  an  exceedingly 
mirthful  disposition,  I  was  almost  constantly  under 
the  ban  of  parental  displeasure,  and  through  some 
innate  depravity  of  my  nature,  I  suppose,  I  always 
felt  an  aversion  to  any  line  of  business  that  would 
compel  me  to  be  always  studying  the  proprieties  of 
dress  and  manners.  I  felt  a  sort  of  good-natured  con 
tempt  for  my  companions  in  the  village  academy,  who 
looked  forward  to  a  position  in  a  bank  as  the  most 
desirable  opening  to  be  had,  while  I  longed  for  a  life 
in  the  open  air,  without  too  many  refinements,  even 
with  a  dash  of  roughness  in  it,  and  if  with  a  spice  of 
adventure  or  danger,  all  the  better. 

Our  home  was  so  situated  that  it  overlooked  a  long 
5 


6        THE  GENERAL  MANAGER'S  STORY 

heavy  grade  on  the  local  railroad,  and  I  used  fre 
quently  to  watch  with  the  greatest  interest  the  freight 
trains  as  they  slowly  and  laboriously  puffed  and 
tugged  up  the  hill,  the  brakemen  sitting  —  if  it  hap 
pened  to  be  pleasant  weather  —  on  their  brake- 
wheels,  with  folded  arms,  and  hat  brims  flapping  in 
the  breeze,  monarchs  of  all  they  surveyed.  Some 
times  they  would,  for  some  cause  at  that  time  un 
known  to  me,  stop  on  a  slight  curve  nearly  in  front 
of  our  place,  and  then  there  would  be  a  great  shout 
ing  and  waving  of  arms  and  hats.  Sometimes  the 
conductor  would  come  up  over  the  top  of  the  train, 
and  jaw  at  the  engineer,  who  apparently  never  failed 
to  give  him  fully  as  good  as  he  sent ;  then  if  they 
failed  to  start  again,  they  would  cut  the  train  in  two 
in  the  middle,  and  take  half  of  it  up  at  a  time,  to  a 
convenient  side-track  at  the  top,  where  it  would  be 
coupled  together  again  and  proceed  on  its  way. 

But  it  was  on  the  down  trips  that  I  got  excited. 
As  soon  as  the  engine  pitched  over  the  hill  with  cars 
enough  to  keep  up  the  speed,  the  engineer  would 
shut  off  his  steam,  and  the  train,  gathering  headway 
from  its  own  weight,  would  whirl  down  the  grade  at 
a  great  rate.  The  engineer  would  blow  his  whistle, 
and  the  brakemen,  running  lightly  over  the  tops  of 
the  bounding  and  rocking  cars,  that  seemed  every 
minute  as  if  they  must  leave  the  tracks  and  pile 
themselves  in  the  ditch,  would  twist  up  the  brakes 
with  a  vim  as  though  they  would  tear  them  out  by  the 
roots — and  oh!  how  I  admired  them  then!  What 


LEAVES  HOME  ^ 

a  glorious  thing  it  must  be,  I  thought,  to  feel  within 
one's  self  the  courage  and  self-reliance  necessary  to 
enable  one  to  speed  over  the  top  of  that  reeling 
train,  and,  as  it  were,  tame  it  in  its  wild  flight,  and 
bring  it  under  control,  or  to  a  perfect  standstill. 
Yes,  my  boy,  there's  poetry  even  in  a  freight  brake- 
man's  life,  though  you  mightn't  think  it. 

There  was  one  fellow — I  remember  him  as  well  as 
if  it  had  been  but  yesterday,  —  a  big,  tall,  strapping 
man — a  perfect  Hercules.  He  always  rode  out  near 
the  middle  of  the  train  when  going  down  the  hill,  and 
I  fancied  that  I  could  see  the  train  perceptibly  slow 
up  every  time  that  he  set  a  brake.  One  day  his 
train  broke  in  two  a  couple  of  cars  ahead  of  where 
he  sat.  I  noticed  a  gradually  widening  gap  between 
the  cars,  and  he  soon  spied  it  too ;  for  he  leaped  to 
his  feet,  let  a  wild  yell  out  of  him  to  attract  the 
engineer's  attention,  pulled  off  his  straw  hat,  and 
swung  it  in  a  full-arm  vertical  circle  in  front  of  him, 
and  having  thus  signalled  the  engineer,  commenced 
to  set  brakes  with  all  his  might ;  for  you  see  when 
a  train  breaks  in  two  on  a  down  grade,  the  first 
result  is,  that  the  head  section  draws  away  from  the 
rear  one ;  but  as  it  is  pushing  the  locomotive  with  all 
its  machinery,  the  rear  section,  unless  checked  by 
the  brakes,  will  gain  in  speed  so  much  faster  that  it 
will  crash  into  it,  resulting  in  some  of  the  worst 
wrecks  known  to  railroad  men.  When  the  engineer 
gets  a  signal  that  his  train  is  broken  in  two,  or  dis 
covers  the  fact  himself,  by  looking  back  on  a  curve, 


8        THE  GENERAL  MANAGER'S  STORY 

he  instantly  " pulls  out"  and  runs  as  fast  as  possible 
to  get  away  from  the  rear  section,  at  the  same  time 
giving  the  whistle  signal  for  " broke  in  two,"  to  notify 
the  train  crew,  so  that  they  can  get  out  and  stop 
their  end. 

Well,  it  seems  that  in  this  case  the  engineer  either 
saw  the  head  brakeman  signal  or  discovered  the 
break  himself,  for  I  saw  the  head  end  dart  away, 
and  heard  four  long  blasts  of  the  whistle  repeated 
again  and  again.  The  train  men  responded  promptly 
and  did  their  level  best  to  stop  their  half;  but  the 
hill  was  so  steep  and  the  train  had  got  such  headway 
on  it,  and  so  quickly,  that  even  with  all  brakes  set, 
and  the  fire  flying  from  the  wheels  in  showers,  they 
went  down  that  grade  like  a  stone  dropping  down 
a  well.  I  had  an  unobstructed  view  of  the  track  for 
several  miles,  and  watched  with  the  keenest  interest 
this  novel  race.  At  first  it  seemed  as  if  the  loco 
motive  gained  quite  rapidly,  and  by  the  volumes  of 
black  smoke  pouring  out  of  her  stack  I  knew  that 
the  engineer  was  giving  it  to  her  for  all  she  was 
worth.  After  awhile  she  seemed  barely  to  hold  her 
own,  and  then  the  rear  section  seemed  to  gain  on 
the  one  ahead;  but  as  they  were  now  well  down  the 
road,  this  might  have  been  partly  due  to  perspective. 
Anyway,  I  saw  that  they  finally  got  the  rear  part 
stopped ;  the  engine,  that  had  now  got  half  a  mile 
or  more  away  from  them,  backed  up  on  getting 
a  signal,  coupled  on,  and  away  they  went. 

This   incident — -which,  as   I   afterwards   learned, 


LEAVES   HOME  9 

was  a  very  common  occurrence  —  so  fired  my  im 
agination  from  the  heroism  of  the  big  brakeman, 
whose  prompt  action  had  prevented  a  wreck  with  the 
consequent  loss  of  thousands  of  dollars'  worth  of 
property,  and  very  likely  some  human  lives,  that  I 
determined  to  devote  my  life  to  railroading.  I  lost 
all  interest  in  my  studies,  could  fix  my  mind  on 
nothing,  and  passed  all  my  spare  time,  and  a  good 
deal  that  I  could  not  afford  to  spare,  in  watching 
the  trains,  and  constructing  in  imagination  won 
derful  cases  of  lives  and  property  saved  by  my 
individual  prowess  when  I  should  become  a  railroad 
man. 

Shortly  after  this  our  annual  examination  came  off 
at  the  academy,  and  as  I  had  neglected  my  studies 
of  late,  I  failed  wofully.  My  father  was  a  sorely 
disappointed  man,  and  notified  me  in  very  plain 
terms  that  he  could  not  afford  to  keep  me  another 
year  at  school,  and  as  I  had  —  so  he  said  —  disgraced 
him  by  my  miserable  failure,  he  would  be  pleased  if 
I  could  find  some  occupation,  at  least  for  awhile, 
away  from  my  native  place.  In  conclusion  he 
handed  me  two  ten-dollar  bills,  saying,  that  while 
he  could  not  spare  me  any  more  just  at  present,  he 
did  not  wish  a  son  of  his  to  be  short  of  anything  that 
a  young  man  in  my  station  ought  to  have,  and  told 
me  in  case  I  failed  to  obtain  satisfactory  employment 
before  my  money  was  gone,  not  to  hesitate  about 
writing  for  more1,  or  coming  home  again  in  case  I 
failed  to  find  any  employment  at  all,  which  he  broadly 


10       THE  GENERAL  MANAGER'S  STORY 

hinted   he  expected  would   be   the  case,   as   I    had 
already  begun  life  so  disastrously. 

You  may  well  believe  that  this  lecture  was  quite 
a  set-back  to  me,  for  I  had  certainly  not  contemplated 
anything  so  harsh  as  what  was  really  neither  more  nor 
less  than  being  turned  out  of  doors.  I  was  proud  and 
stubborn,  however,  so  I  thanked  him  kindly  for  the 
money,  and  told  him  I  guessed  I  could  hoe  my  own 
row  all  right,  to  which  he  replied  stiffly,  "  I  presume 
so,"  and  asked  me  if  I  had  any  plans  for  the  future 
which  I  cared  to  confide  to  him.  I  answered  just  as 
stiffly,  "  None  at  all,  sir,"  and  left  his  presence  for 
ever.  I  had  a  tearful  scene  with  mother  and  the 
girls,  and  declining  their  earnest  entreaties  to  remain 
in  the  house  at  least  until  morning,  I  packed  a  small 
valise  and  took  the  first  train  out  of  town. 


CHAPTER   II 

HE  ARRIVES  LATE  AT  NIGHT  AT  THE  JUNCTION  — 
SEEKING  EMPLOYMENT FALLS  INTO  STRANGE  AD 
VENTURES IS  HAZED  BY  A  VETERAN  BRAKEMAN 

—  HEARS    DISCOURAGING    TALES  —  TAKES    LESSONS 

—  LEARNING    TO    JUMP  —  YARDMASTER's    ADVICE  — 
DEATH   IN   THE   YARD  —  HIRED 

As  I  had  never  before  been  ten  miles  from  the 
house  I  was  born  in,  the  novelty  of  the  train  ride 
served  to  distract  my  mind  from  dwelling  too  much 
on  my  unpleasant  condition.  Besides,  as  I  had  fully 
made  up  my  mind  to  enter  the  railroad  service,  I 
took  a  great  interest  in  all  I  saw  pertaining  to  the 
business ;  and  when  the  conductor,  a  little,  wiry, 
quick,  nervous  old  fellow,  with  a  long  gray  beard, 
and  gorgeous  in  blue  cloth,  brass  buttons,  and  a 
shiny  badge,  came  through  the  train,  I  with  difficulty 
repressed  my  desire  to  confide  in  him  my  mission  on 
earth.  But  he  had  a  cold,  fishy  eye,  so  he  escaped. 

We  arrived  at  eleven  o'clock  at  night  at  the  end  of 
our  run,  which  I  found  next  day  to  be  a  junction  with 
a  large  road  whose  western  terminus  was  at  Chicago. 
I  put  up  at  a  hotel  near  the  station,  and  after  break 
fast  the  next  morning,  made  my  way  down  to  the 

ii 


12       THE  GENERAL  MANAGER'S  STORY 

railroad  yard,  which  I  could  see  quite  plainly  from 
the  hotel  piazza. 

The  sound  of  the  switch  engines  as  they  puffed  to 
and  fro,  and  the  bang  and  rattle  of  the  cars  as  they 
were  rammed  together,  was  music  to  me,  and  served 
to  strengthen  my  resolution  to  become  a  railroad 
man.  That  I  might  not  find  employment  never 
occurred  to  me ;  for  being  so  perfectly  and  beautifully 
green,  I  didn't  know  there  was  in  existence  an  art 
called  "  hunting  a  job."  So  it  was  with  a  rather 
benign  and  philanthropic  feeling  that  I  slowly  wan 
dered  down  there,  and  stood  for  some  time  watching 
the  flying  cars,  and  wondering  what  was  accomplished 
by  the  work  I  saw  in  progress,  for  to  me  it  seemed 
to  be  entirely  aimless.  An  engine  would  back  into 
a  track,  couple  on,  and  then  after  dragging  the  cars 
out,  would  kick  them  all  over  the  yard,  only  to  go  to 
another  track  and  do  the  same  thing  over  again, 
while  other  engines  would  take  the  cars  she  had 
kicked  and  distribute  them  elsewhere. 

After  watching  them  for  nearly  an  hour,  and  fail 
ing  to  discover  what  their  object  was,  I  walked  along 
towards  the  other  end  of  the  yard,  where  I  came 
across  an  old  man  with  a  wooden  leg,  who  was  trim 
ming  switch  lamps.  I  watched  him  awhile,  and  as 
he  appeared  to  have  plenty  of  time,  I  stepped  up  to 
him,  and  raising  my  hat  politely,  said, — 

"  Good  morning,  sir." 

He  looked  at  me  in  a  surprised  manner,  and  then 
after  looking  everywhere  else,  came  to  the  conclusion, 


LEARNING  TO  JUMP  13 

apparently,  that  it  must  have  been  himself  that  I 
addressed,  as  he  could  see  no  one  else.  So  he 
replied  rather  sheepishly,  though  in  a  not  unfriendly 
manner,  — 

"Good  mornin'." 

"  This  is  a  fine  railroad  you  have  here,  sir,"  said  I. 

"Yas,  on'y  'tain't  mine,"  said  he;  "b'longs  mostly 
ter  the  comp'ny,  I  guess." 

I  told  him  I  knew  that,  of  course,  asked  him  what 
road  it  was,  and  what  was  the  proper  way  to  obtain 
employment  there. 

He  sized  me  up  with  a  quick,  comprehensive 
glance,  and  said  they  could  tell  me  all  about  that  in 
the  office,  but  I  told  him  I  didn't  want  to  work  in  the 
office,  I  wanted  to  work  on  the  cars. 

Just  then  another  old  fellow  came  up.  He  had 
only  one  eye,  and  a  terrible  scar  ran  diagonally 
across  his  face  from  eyebrow  to  chin.  This  had 
crushed  and  distorted  his  nose,  drawn  one  corner  of 
his  left  eye  down,  and  the  opposite  corner  of  his 
mouth  up,  thereby  showing  a  couple  of  filthy, 
tobacco-stained  tusks,  and  giving  him  the  most  re 
pulsive  appearance  of  any  human  being  I  ever 
saw. 

His  overalls  were  black  with  dirt,  and  so  shiny  with 
grease  that  when  the  sun  shone  on  him  he  glistened 
like  a  crow.  His  left  arm  was  cut  off  just  below  the 
elbow,  and  finished  out  with  a  three-pronged  iron 
hook,  in  which  he  carried  a  great  iron  pail  filled  with 
colored  cotton  waste  soaked  in  oil. 


14  THE  GENERAL  MANAGER'S  STORY 

In  his  right  and  only  hand  he  had  what  I  took  to 
be  a  mammoth  coffee-pot,  but  which  was  in  reality 
an  oil-can. 

When  I  first  caught  sight  of  his  horrible  features  I 
was  startled,  but  the  distortion  at  the  corner  of  his 
mouth  caused  me  to  think  that  he  was  trying  to 
smile  a  welcome,  so  again  I  lifted  my  hat,  and  bade 
him  good  morning ;  but  without  taking  the  slightest 
notice  of  me,  he  stepped  up  to  a  box  car,  set  his  load 
down  on  the  ground,  lifted  the  cover  of  an  axle-box 
with  his  hook,  thrust  it  in,  and  pulling  out  a  lot  of 
dry  black  waste,  turned  to  my  friend  the  lamp- 
trimmer,  and  holding  it  up,  said,  — 

"  Looker  that,  Joe ;  d'ye  ever  see  the  way  these 
furrin  cars  comes  inter  the  yard  now'days  ?  Dry's  a 
powder  horn ;  no  wonder  they  burn  off  journals, 
an'  break  down,  an'  block  the  road.  Since  ole  Bees 
wax  died,  'n'  they  got  that  blasted  young  clerk  in  here 
fer  yardmaster,  everything's  gone  to  the  devil.  The 
first  thing  he  does  is  to  cut  down  the  caboose  sup 
plies,  till  not  one  conductor  out  o'  three's  got  a  dope 
bucket ;  an'  then  I  have  ter  cart  a  carload  o'  dope 
round  the  yard  every  day,  'n'  it  all  comes  o'  puttin' 
boys  that  don't  know  nothin'  about  practical  rail- 
roadin'  over  men  that  furgits  more  every  night  than 
they'll  ever  know.  Ter  blazes  with  sich  dam-fool 
management,  I  say,"  and  he  fired  the  kiln-dried  waste 
on  the  ground  in  disgust,  and  commenced  vigorously 
ramming  in  a  lot  of  the  mixture  from  his  pail  which 
he  called  "dope,"  all  the  time  swearing  away  and 


LEARNING  TO  JUMP  15 

wondering  what  "ole  Beeswax"  would  say  if  he  could 
see  how  things  were  being  run  into  the  ground  and 
destroyed  by  his  unworthy  successor. 

"  Why,  Mike,"  said  the  lamp-trimmer,  "  here's 
a  man  for  you,"  indicating  me  by  a  sort  of  jerk 
of  the  head,  which  enabled  him  to  point  towards 
me  with  the  old  clay  pipe  he  was  affectionately 
sucking. 

"  Man  for  who  ?  What  do  I  want  of  a  man  ? 
Guess  yer  gittin'  loony,"  said  Mike. 

"Why,  didn't  I  hear  you  say  last  night  that  you 
wanted  another  brakeman  ?  He  wants  to  learn  to  be 
a  brakeman." 

"Oh! "  said  Mike,  stopping  his  work  at  once  and 
leaning  lazily  up  against  the  side  of  the  car,  while 
his  disfigured  features  assumed  a  different  expression, 
which  I  presume  indicated  interest.  "So  ye  want 
to  learn  to  be  a  brakeman,  boy  ?  What  road  are  ye 
off  of  ?  Ben  a  water  boy,  I  s'pose  ? " 

I  told  him  I  had  never  worked  anywhere  yet ;  was, 
in  fact,  just  from  school. 

"  Well,  I'll  tell  ye  what  you  do  now,  sonny :  you 
jest  run  right  back  to  school  an'  keep  away  from 
the  railroad;  'tain't  no  good.  I've  been  a  brakeman 
twenty-seven  years;  so's  Joe  there.  See  this  pa 
tent  safety  coupler?"  (holding  up  his  hook);  "got 
that  brakin'.  Conductor  said  if  I  couldn't  couple 
cars  when  they  was  comin'  together  quicker  'n  chain 
lightnin',  I'd  better  hunt  another  job,  in  a  dry-goods 
store  or  somethin'.  Wish't  I  had  now ;  might  o'  had 


16       THE  GENERAL  MANAGER'S  STORY 

two  old-fashioned  couplers  yet  instid  of  on'y  one  an' 
this  thing. 

"Tried  to  make  one  o'  them  flyin'  couplin's  not 
twenty  minutes  afterwards ;  drawhead  mashed  into  a 
rotten  car,  an'  I  jumped  back  jest  in  time  to  keep 
from  gittin'  squ'shed  when  they  come  together,  but 
got  my  arm  cut  off. 

"  See  this  beauty  mark  on  my  mug  like  a  single- 
track  switchbeck  up  the  side  of  a  mountain?  Got 
throwed  off  o'  the  top  of  a  car  in  a  head'n'head  colli 
sion,  an'  ploughed  down  the  side  of  a  forty-foot  rock 
fill  on  my  nose.  That's  railroadin' ! 

"  Ask  Joe  there  why  he  don't  wear  his  other  leg 
every  day  like  most  folks?  Cos  ole  Bill  Herndon 
that  was  killed  in  the  big  wreck  at  Jenkins'  Trestle 
four  year  ago  flew  a  flat  car  over  'im  one  day  an'  cut 
it  off  —  that's  why." 

"  I  have  always  lived  near  the  railroad,"  said  I, 
"and  I  never  saw  any  brakeman  who  had  been 
maimed  like  you  two  gentlemen.  I  think  you  must 
have  had  exceptionally  bad  luck." 

"  'Cepshunally  bad  luck  ?  'cepshunally  good  luck, 
you  mean.  We  hain't  neither  of  us  killed  yet,  be 
we?  Where  do  you  s'pose  the  rest  of  the  fellers 
is  that  went  brakin'  when  we  did  ?  Killed,  every 
mother's  son  of  'em,  years  an'  years  ago. 

"We're  both  on  us  nigher  sixty  'n  fifty.  You 
don't  see  but  mighty  few  brakeys  as  old  as  we  be, 
now  I  tell  ye. 

"The  reason  you  didn't  see  no  cripples  on  the 


LEARNING  TO  JUMP  1 7 

trains  is  'cos  they  don't  send  'em  out  on  the 
road;  'tain't  likely.  What  good  'd  they  be?  Them's 
all  fresh  fish  that  you  saw.  Ain't  ben  at  the 
business  long ;  but  they'll  git  it,  you'll  see.  What  're 
brakemen  for,  anyway  ?  Nothin'  but  fodder  for  cars 
'n'  engines  to  eat  up.  Say,  do  you  want  to  go 
brakin'  ? " 

I  was  on  my  mettle,  and  determined  not  to  let  the 
old  fellow  think  he  had  scared  me  by  his  tirade ;  so 
I  said  yes  I  did. 

"Wai,  I  want  another  man,  'n'  you  look  to  be  a 
pretty  lively  young  feller,  but  you're  so  awful  green. 
It'd  cost  me  more  to  break  ye  in  nor  ye'd  be  worth 
for  a  month  ter  come,"  and  he  looked  at  me  with  his 
eyes  half  shut,  a  cunning  leer  showing  in  spite  of  his 
bisected  countenance. 

It  flashed  suddenly  on  my  mind  that  perhaps  if  I 
should  offer  to  pay  him  for  his  trouble  it  might  sim 
plify  matters,  so  I  said,  "I  know  of  course  that  I 
am  green,  but  I  wouldn't  mind  paying  a  little  to  any 
one  who  would  teach  me  the  business." 

"  Got  any  money  ? " 

"Yes,  a  little."  And  I  pulled  out  a  handful  of 
change  and  showed  it  to  him. 

"Wai,  I'll  tell  ye  what  I'll  do :  I  won't  be  hard  on 
ye,  'cos  it'll  be  some  time  before  ye  git  any  pay. 
Gimme  half  a  dollar,  an'  I'll  give  ye  your  first  lesson 
right  now." 

"How  about  employment?"  said  I ;  "will  you  hire 
me?" 


1 8       THE  GENERAL  MANAGER'S  STORY 

"  I  will,  me  boy ;  you  shall  go  out  with  me  on  my 
very  next  trip  and  continue  yer  education." 

That  seemed  fair  enough,  so  I  handed  him  the 
half-dollar. 

"  Now  then  let's  see  ye  git  up  on  that  car  an'  set 
a  brake." 

I  ran  lightly  up  the  ladder  on  the  head  of  the  car, 
and  being  a  vigorous  young  fellow,  gave  the  brake- 
wheel  what  I  thought  was  a  good  twist  up,  while 
he  stood  on  the  ground,  and  stared  at  me  with  his 
mouth  open. 

I  looked  down  at  him  to  note  his  approval,  but  he 
merely  said,  "Set  it." 

"  I  have,"  said  I. 

"  Ye  have  wot  ?  " 

"  Set  the  brake." 

"  W'y,  ye  hain't  took  up  the  slack  o'  the  chain  yit. 
Set  it  I" 

He  yelled  out  the  words  as  if  I  had  been  half 
a  mile  from  him  instead  of  twenty  feet  or  so.  The 
sun  was  now  shining  down  hotly  on  my  back,  and 
the  big  drops  of  perspiration  ran  down  from  under 
my  straw  hat  and  into  my  eyes,  blinding  me. 

I  could  feel  my  collar,  that  looked  so  nice  an  hour 
before  when  I  left  the  hotel,  sticking  wet  and  soggy 
to  my  neck,  as  I  strained  at  that  old  brake-wheel  with 
all  my  might,  blistering  my  hands  with  the  unfamiliar 
toil,  as  I  tried  vainly,  but  oh !  so  hard,  to  get  another 
notch  on  it. 

With  a  cry  of  disgust  and  derision,  the  old  fellow 


LEARNING  TO  JUMP  19 

came  up  the  ladder  like  a  squirrel,  and  remarking, 
"  My,  but  the  risin'  generation  are  weakly,"  he 
hooked  his  patent  safety  coupler,  as  he  called  it,  on 
to  one  of  the  spokes  of  the  wheel,  grasped  the  rim 
with  his  hand,  and  holding  it  at  arm's  length  gave 
his  body  a  swing,  when  r-r-r-r-uck  he  spun  it  round 
nearly  half  a  turn. 

"  There!  "  said  he ;  "  that's  the  way  it's  done,  see  ? 
Now  kick  off  the  dog  an'  let  'er  go." 

I  looked  at  him,  and  smiled  at  what  I  supposed 
was  meant  for  a  pleasantry,  but  again  he  roared  out, 
—  "  Kick  off  the  dog,  you  d — d  fool!  W'y  don't  you 
kick  off  the  dog  ?  " 

I  glanced  over  the  car,  but  there  was  no  dog  up 
there,  and  I  told  him  so,  and  furthermore,  that  I 
wouldn't  kick  him  off  if  there  was. 

With  that  he  grabbed  the  wheel  again,  gave  it 
another  jerk,  and  at  the  same  time,  with  his  toe  he 
dexterously  kicked  the  tail  of  the  little  ratchet  that 
held  it  in  place;  then  releasing  the  wheel,  it  flew 
back  itself. 

"There,"  said  he,  pointing  with  his  toe,  "that's 
the  dog ;  now  less  see  ye  set  it  agin." 

I  had  got  on  to  the  trick  now.  So  doing  as  I  had 
seen  him,  I  set  it  a  notch  or  two  tighter  than  he  had, 
although  my  hands,  unused  to  the  rough  iron,  were 
hot  and  sore.  I  also  by  his  orders  "  kicked  off  the 
dog  an'  let  'er  go." 

"Now,"  said  he,  "ye  see  that  simple  as  it  looks, 
an'  strong  as  ye  be,  ye  couldn't  do  it  till  ole  Mike 


2O       THE  GENERAL  MANAGER'S  STORY 

showed  ye  how.  Let  that  teach  ye  that  ye  don't 
know  nothin',  if  ye  have  been  ter  school  all  yer 
days. 

"  Now  the  next  thing  ye  have  ter  learn  is  ter 
jump." 

"Jump?"  said  I. 

"  Yes,  jump.  Ye  have  ter  jump  off  and  run  inter 
the  telegraph  office  an'  git  an  order,  an'  git  on  agin 
without  the  train  slowin'  up  a  mite ;  ye  have  ter  jump 
off  an'  run  back  with  a  flag,  or  after  the  engine 's  cut 
loose  an'  run  ahead ;  ye  have  ter  jump  off,  an'  unlock 
an'  open  a  switch  ter  fly  in  a  car  that's  comin'  too 
durn  fast  for  comfort;  an'  then  agin  ye  have  ter  jump 
ter  save  yer  own  bacon,  an'  that's  when  ye  can't 
choose  neither  time  nor  place,  but  have  got  ter  git 
off  right  where  ye  be,  daylight  or  dark,  on  a  bridge, 
on  top  of  a  big  fill,  in  a  narrow  tunnel  or  deep  cut, 
it  don't  make  no  difference,  an'  the  train  maybe  goin' 
forty  mile  an  hour.  Now  I  kin  git  off  most  any 
where,  an'  land  right  side  up,  so  kin  Joe  there,  or  at 
least  he  could  before  he  got  a  divorce  from  his  other 
leg.  All  of  us  fellows  kin,  but  I'll  bet  you're  scairt 
to  jump  offer  this  car  a  stan'nin'  right  still,  down 
onto  that  nice  smooth  ground." 

I  looked  down.  It  was  certainly  a  high  jump,  and 
the  ground  was  tramped  down  as  hard  as  a  barn 
floor;  but  I  was  bound  that  he  shouldn't  dare  me,  and 
when  he  added,  "  I'll  never  hire  a  man  that  can't 
make  a  little  jump  like  that,  offer  a  car  stan'nin' 
right  still  in  the  yard,  for  a  starter,"  I  stooped  for 


It  was  certainly  a  high  jump."  — p.  20. 


LEARNING  TO  JUMP  21 

the  spring.  A  quiet  voice  from  the  other  side  of 
the  car  said  just  then,  "What  are  you  doing  up 
there,  Mike  ?  Are  there  any  boxes  to  be  packed 
on  the  roof  of  that  car  ?  " 

I  turned  and  saw  a  young  man  of  about  twenty- 
five  years  of  age,  with  a  quiet  but  authoritative  man 
ner  about  him,  looking  up  at  us.  Mike's  important 
manner  dropped  from  him  like  a  mask,  as  answering 
with  the  one  word,  "  Nothin',"  he  commenced  to 
descend  sullenly  to  the  ground,  where  the  young 
man  waited  for  him  and  told  him  to  go  on  with  his 
work,  and  quit  his  tomfoolery,  as  there  was  a  train 
of  forty  cars  to  go  out  at  four  o'clock,  or,  as  he 
expressed  it,  at  four  P.M.,  and  he  wanted  them  all 
packed  before  they  left. 

Looking  up  at  me,  he  said  in  the  same  quiet  man 
ner,  "Come  down  here,  you,"  and  down  I  came  rather 
sheepishly,  feeling  that  I  had  in  some  way  been 
guilty  of  something  or  other,  though  for  the  life  of 
me  I  couldn't  imagine  what  it  could  be. 

"  What  were  you  doing  up  there  on  that  car,  de 
taining  this  man  from  his  work  ? "  said  he,  when  I 
arrived  on  the  ground.  "  Do  you  know  that  I  could 
have  you  locked  up  for  trespassing  on  the  company's 
property  ? " 

I  became  greatly  alarmed  at  that,  and  hastened  to 
assure  him  that  I  meant  no  harm,  but  that  the  gentle 
man  who  was  trimming  the  switch  lamps  had  directed 
me  to  Mr.  Mike,  who  he  thought  might  hire  me,  as 
he  needed  another  brakeman,  and  I  was  seeking 


22  THE  GENERAL  MANAGER'S  STORY 

a  position  of  that  kind,  and  that  Mr.  Mike  had  been 
teaching  me  how  to  set,  and  let  off  a  brake,  and  was 
just  going  to  teach  me  jumping  when  he  came  up. 

I  noticed  a  scarcely  perceptible  twinkle  in  his  eye 
as  he  turned  to  Mike,  who  was  furiously  jabbing  dope 
into  an  axle-box,  and  said,  — 

"  Mike,  did  you  intend  to  hire  this  young  man  to 
brake  for  you  ? " 

Mike  answered  never  a  word ;  he  simply  picked  up 
his  traps  and  hurried  off  to  the  next  car,  and  I  no 
ticed  that  the  lamp-trimmer  Joe  was  also  conspicu 
ous  by  his  absence. 

"Come  with  me,"  said  the  young  man,  and  when 
we  had  gone  a  little  way  he  asked  me  if  I  wished  to 
go  braking.  I  told  him  I  did,  and  in  answer  to  his 
further  questioning,  told  him  I  had  never  railroaded 
in  any  capacity  before. 

"Very  well,"  said  he;  "I  am  the  yardmaster  here; 
and  as  I  am  rather  short  of  brakemen,  and  you  ap 
pear  to  be  a  likely  young  fellow,  I  will  give  you  a  job. 
But  let  me  advise  you  to  keep  away  from  old  Mike 
and  Joe;  they  were  only  hoaxing  you.  Mike  is  a 
galvanizer,  and  has  no  power  to  hire  anybody.  They 
are  two  old-time  brakemen,  who  were  given  those 
little  jobs  here  in  the  yard  because  they  were  crip 
pled  in  the  company's  employ ;  but  they  are  full  of 
pranks,  and  delight  in  playing  off  their  jokes  on 
green  hands,  so  don't  take  any  stock  in  anything 
they  tell  you,  and  above  all,  don't  take  any  advice 
from  them,  or  from  any  one  else,  for  that  matter; 


LEARNING  TO  JUMP  23 

but  keep  your  eyes  and  ears  open ;  obey  orders 
strictly,  whether  you  can  or  not,  and"  —  here  he 
grabbed  me  by  the  arm  and  pulled  me  back  just  as 
I  was  about  to  step  directly  in  front  of  a  rapidly 
approaching  car  which  an  engine  had  kicked  in  on 
that  track,  and  which  would  certainly  have  put  an 
end  to  my  railroading  there  and  then. 

" — Be  careful,  never,  under  any  circumstances,  no 
matter  how  big  a  hurry  you  are  in,  to  step  upon  a  rail 
road  track  anywhere,  without  first  looking  both  ways ; 
and  if  you  see  anything  approaching  near  enough, 
so  that  there  is  any  doubt  about  your  being  able  to 
cross  in  perfect  safety  at  an  ordinary  walk,  don't  go ; 
always  give  everything  on  wheels  the  right  of  way." 

I  have  remembered  and  followed  that  rule  to  this 
day,  even  in  the  city  streets,  and  to  it  I  attribute  in 
a  great  measure  the  fact  that  I  am  alive  yet. 

"  When  will  you  be  ready  to  go  to  work  ?  "  asked 
the  yardmaster.  I  told  him,  "  Right  away."  "  All 
right,"  said  he,  and  then  looking  at  his  watch,  — 

"  Well,  I  don't  know  but  that  you  had  better  get 
your  dinner  first ;  it's  now  eleven  thirty,  and  there's 
no  use  of  your  getting  killed  on  an  empty  stomach. 
Do  you  see  that  office  over  there  by  those  green 
cars?" 

"Yes,  sir." 

"Well,  go  and  get  your  dinner,  and  report  to  me 
there  at  i  P.M.  sharp." 

"All  right,  sir,"  said  I,  "and  thank  you  very  much 
for  your  kindness." 


24       THE  GENERAL  MANAGER'S  STORY 

"Oh,  that's  all  right;  go  along  now,  and  be  sure 
and  get  back  on  time." 

Away  I  went  to  my  hotel  for  dinner,  highly  elated 
at  my  success.  I  was  now  indeed,  I  thought,  a  gen 
uine  railroad  man.  To  be  sure,  I  didn't  quite  like 
all  those  allusions  to  killing  and  maiming,  but  I 
thought  they  had  only  been  thrown  out  to  try  my 
nerve,  and  I  congratulated  myself  that  I  had  shown 
no  sign  of  flinching. 

I  was  wrong  in  my  conjecture,  however;  for  like 
all  railroad  yards  it  was  more  or  less  of  a  slaughter 
house,  and  one  poor  fellow's  life  was  crushed  out  of 
him  that  very  afternoon,  although  I  didn't  hear  of 
it  until  the  next  day,  and  never  saw  him  at  all,  which 
was  just  as  well,  I  guess ;  for  if  I  had  known  of  it  at 
the  time,  I  dare  say  I  should  have  lost  some  of  the 
nerve  I  felt  so  proud  of. 

He  was  a  car-repairer  and  was  at  work  between  two 
cars  on  the  "dead-head."  The  car-repairers'  signal 
was  a  piece  of  sheet  iron,  about  a  foot  square,  painted 
blue,  and  riveted  to  a  four-foot  iron  rod,  sharpened  on 
the  bottom  so  that  it  could  be  stuck  in  a  tie  vertically. 

There  was  a  most  rigid  order  that  none  but  a  car- 
repairer  should  handle  that  signal  in  any  manner, 
and  no  one  but  the  man  that  put  it  up  must  take  it 
down.  All  cars  needing  repairs  were  run  in  on  this 
track,  and  when  the  men  were  working  on  them, 
they  stuck  their  signal  in  a  tie  ahead  of  the  last  car 
put  in,  and  in  plain  sight  of  all  the  men  working 
about  the  yard. 


LEARNING  TO  JUMP  2$ 

This  was  a  notice  to  the  train  men  not  to  touch 
any  car  on  that  track,  or  to  put  any  more  in  there, 
until  the  repair  gang  were  notified,  so  that  they 
might  look  out  for  themselves,  take  down  their  sig 
nal,  and  put  it  up  again  outside  the  outer  car,  as 
before. 

In  this  instance,  the  signal,  carelessly  put  up,  had 
fallen  down,  and  a  conductor  having  a  crippled  car 
to  go  in  there,  glanced  down  the  track,  saw  no  signal 
up,  opened  the  switch,  pulled  the  coupling  pin  on 
the  crippled  car,  and  gave  his  engineer  a  signal  to 
kick  it  in,  which  of  course  he  did. 

As  the  unfortunate  man  was  stooping  over  the 
drawhead  of  a  car  further  back,  when  the  kicked  car 
fetched  up,  the  drawhead,  link  and  all,  were  driven 
clear  through  his  body. 

They  said  he  let  one  agonizing  scream  out  of  him 
and  died.  Of  course,  as  soon  as  they  heard  him  yell, 
they  ran  from  all  directions,  but  we  being  in  a  dis 
tant  part  of  the  yard  knew  nothing  of  it.  A  switch- 
rope  was  hooked  on  to  the  car  on  whose  drawhead 
he  was  impaled,  and  the  same  engine  that  did  the 
deed  pulled  it  back. 

He  was  a  poor  man,  with  the  usual  poor  man's 
blessing,  a  large  family,  so  we  made  up  a  purse  to 
bury  him,  and  the  company  gave  his  wife  and  two 
oldest  children  employment  in  the  car-cleaning  gang, 
and  one  more  was  added  to  the  countless  thousands 
of  human  lives  fed  into  the  insatiate  maw  of  the 
railway. 


CHAPTER   III. 

HE  REPORTS  FOR  DUTY  —  A  RAILROAD  MAN  AT  LAST 
—  BREAKING  IN  —  DIRTY  BILL  THE  ENGINEER  —  A 
WALTON  PUNKIN  HUSKER  —  THOROUGHLY  DISGUSTED 
RECEPTION  AT  THE  HOTEL  —  CONGENIAL  COM 
PANY  AT  LAST  —  THE  FIRST  SQUEEZE 

I  REPORTED  to  the  yardmaster  ten  minutes  ahead 
of  time.  Sticking  his  head  out  of  the  door,  he  called 
out,  — 

"  Hey,  Simmons !  " 

A  fine,  large,  sunburned,  black-bearded  man  ap 
peared  in  answer  to  the  summons. 

"  Here's  a  green  man  I  want  you  to  break  in," 
said  the  yardmaster ;  "  put  him  on  top  and  let  him 
pass  the  signal  for  a  day  or  two  until  he  can  handle 
himself." 

"All  right,"  said  Simmons,  who  I  soon  found  was 
the  conductor  of  a  "drill,"  a  switch  engine  crew.  He 
took  me  out  to  the  engine,  and  said  to  the  engineer, 
a  grimy,  greasy  individual,  — 

"  Bill,  here's  a  fresh  fish  Dawson  wants  to  break 
in.  I'll  put  him  on  the  head  car  and  let  him  pass 
the  signal." 

"All  right,"  said  Bill,  sourly. 
26 


BREAKING  IN  2/ 

I  was  then  told  to  mount  the  car  next  the  engine, 
and  repeat  the  signals  of  the  man  in  the  middle  of 
the  train  to  the  engineer. 

That  seemed  simple  enough,  but  I  hadn't  been 
doing  it  more  than  ten  minutes,  when  the  engine 
stopped,  and  Bill  called  out,  — 

"  Hey !     Hey !  you  there,  dominie,  parson  !  " 

Seeing  that  he  was  addressing  his  remarks  to  me, 
and  not  liking  the  impertinence  of  such  a  disrepu 
table-looking  individual,  I  said,  — 

"  Well !  what  is  it  ?     Are  you  talking  to  me  ? " 

"  Yes,  I'm  talkin'  to  you,  an'  ye  better  keep  a  civil 
tongue  in  yer  head,  I  tell  ye.  What  kind  of  a  signal 
is  that  ye're  givin'  me  ?  Wha'  d'ye  want  me  ter  do, 
anyway  ? " 

"  I  don't  want  you  to  do  anything,  and  I  don't 
care  what  you  do.  I'm  giving  you  the  signal  just  as 
I  get  it."  ' 

"  No,  ye  hain't  nuther,  an'  don't  ye  give  me  no 
back  talk.  Say,  where  do  you  come  from  ?  " 

"  I  am  from  Walton,"  said  I. 

"  Sho  !  I  thought  so — another  Walton  punkin 
husker.  Say,  Simmons,  take  this  d — d  ornament  o' 
yours  down  off  o'  here,  an'  give  me  a  man  that 
knows  one  signal  from  another,  or  I'll  smash  all  the 
cars  in  the  yard  before  night." 

Then  he  gave  the  engine  a  jerk  back  that  nearly 
threw  me  off  the  car. 

"  Oh,  he's  all  right,"  said  Simmons.  "  He's  a  little 
green,  but  he'll  get  over  that ;  "  then  to  me,  "  Be  care- 


28       THE  GENERAL  MANAGER'S  STORY 

ful  how  you  pass  the  signals,  bub,  or  the  engineer 
can't  tell  what  he's  doing." 

I  told  him  I  was  giving  them  just  exactly  as  the 
other  man  did. 

"  Well,  that's  all  right ;  Bill  is  kinder  cranky,  but 
you  mustn't  mind  that." 

We  hadn't  worked  ten  minutes  more,  and  my  arms 
were  beginning  to  ache  from  the  continuous  motion, 
when  Bill  roared  out,  — 

"Say!  you  infernal  counter-jumper,  will  you  git  out 
o'  the  way,  so  I  can  see  that  man's  signals  ?  Set  down, 
fall  down,  git  ter  h —  down  off  o'  there!  You'll 
scare  the  engine  off  the  track,  the  way  you're  flap 
ping  your  wings."  Then,  having  occasion  to  go  to 
the  other  end  of  the  yard,  he  pulled  her  wide  open, 
drenching  me  with  soot  and  water  from  the  stack, 
until  I  was  a  sight  for  gods  and  men.  I  had  my 
best  clothes  on,  and  they  were  ruined. 

When  we  were  relieved  at  six  o'clock,  I  was  tired, 
dirty,  and  thoroughly  disgusted  with  railroading,  and 
started  for  my  hotel  firmly  determined  to  quit  at 
once. 

Arriving  at  the  door,  I  found  it  occupied  by  the 
landlord's  burly  figure,  to  the  exclusion  of  any  one 
who  might  wish  to  pass  either  in  or  out.  I  bid  him 
good  evening  as  cordially  as  I  could,  —  which  wasn't 
very  cordially,  —  and  waited  for  him  to  step  aside  so 
that  I  could  go  in ;  but  without  moving,  he  merely 
looked  down  at  me,  and  said  in  a  most  insulting 
tone,  — 


BREAKING  IN  29 

"Well,  what  do  you  want  ? " 

I  said  I  wished  to  go  in  and  get  my  supper. 

"  Supper,  hey  ?  You'll  get  no  supper  here.  I  don't 
keep  tramps.  Come  now,  get  a  move  on,  before  I  set 
the  dog  on  you." 

"  Why,  I  board  here ;  I  arrived  last  night  on  the 
eleven  o'clock  train  from  Walton,"  said  I. 

"  Oh,  came  in  on  a  brake  beam,  did  you  ?  I 
thought  p'raps  you  came  in  your  private  carriage,  — 
now  then,  git !  " 

Seizing  me  by  the  shoulders,  he  whirled  me  quickly 
round,  and  with  a  vigorous  kick,  landed  me  sprawl 
ing  in  a  mud  puddle  in  front  of  the  door. 

It  was  my  first  experience  of  a  kick,  and  while  it 
was  exceedingly  painful  to  my  physical  person,  the 
insult,  which  was  emphasized  by  the  uproarious 
laughter  of  the  bystanders,  as  I  rose  dripping  from 
the  mud,  filled  me  with  murderous  rage.  Rushing 
upon  the  piazza,  I  seized  a  heavy  chair,  and  raising 
it  over  my  head  went  for  him ;  but  before  I  got  within 
range,  the  dog  seized  me,  —  fortunately  by  the  heel 
of  my  shoe,  —  and  at  the  same  instant  Simmons,  who 
had  just  arrived,  took  the  chair  from  me,  and  driving 
off  the  dog,  asked  what  the  matter  was. 

I  was  now  on  the  point  of  blubbering  outright,  but 
avoided  it  by  an  effort  of  will,  while  the  landlord 
was  bursting  with  offended  dignity,  and  ordered  his 
clerk  to  find  an  officer  at  once,  and  have  the  tramp 
locked  up. 

Fortunately  for  me,  however,  the  clerk  recognized 


3O       THE  GENERAL  MANAGER'S  STORY 

me  in  spite  of  my  disreputable  appearance,  and  as 
Simmons  explained  how  I  came  to  be  so  dishevelled, 
they  managed  to  pacify  the  enraged  landlord  suffi 
ciently  to  save  me  from  arrest.  He  notified  me, 
however,  that  he  drew  the  line  at  firemen  and  brake- 
men  ;  engineers  and  conductors  he  would  entertain, 
but  no  railroaders  of  lower  degree.  Thus  I  took  my 
first  lesson  in  railroad  caste,  and  it  was  thoroughly 
impressed  on  both  my  mental  and  physical  person. 

I  swore  to  sue  him  for  assault  and  battery ;  but 
Simmons  dissuaded  me,  saying  he  was  too  big  a  man 
for  me  to  successfully  prosecute,  so  I  pocketed  my 
injured  pride,  as  I  have  often  had  to  do  since. 

My  valise  was  passed  out  to  me,  the  landlord  very 
graciously  declining  to  charge  anything  for  my  pre 
vious  entertainment,  and  by  Simmons'  advice  I  went 
to  a  regular  railroad  boarding-house,  where  I  soon 
found  the  surroundings  more  congenial,  and  learned 
many  wise  railroad  axioms. 

During  the  evening  I  scraped  acquaintance  with 
a  young  fellow  about  my  own  age.  I  was  attracted 
by  his  appearance,  he  seeming  to  be,  like  myself, 
"  a  boy  from  home,"  although  not  as  green  as  I  was. 
He  was  a  nice,  quiet,  decent-appearing  young  fellow 
who  was  conspicuous  —  to  me  at  least — by  his  non- 
indulgence  in  tobacco  and  profanity. 

After  supper  we  adjourned  with  our  chairs  to  the 
shade  of  a  big  tree  in  front  of  the  house,  and  I  con 
fided  to  him  my  day's  woes.  He  laughed  at  first;  but 
seeing  I  regarded  my  adventures  as  anything  but 


BREAKING  IN  31 

funny,  checked  himself,  and  told  me  not  to  mind  it ; 
that  all  green  hands  were  subjected  to  similar  and 
frequently  much  worse  initiations,  and  when  I  told 
him  I  would  railroad  no  more,  he  said  I  was  foolish, 
he  had  been  at  it  a  year  and  liked  it,  and  he  predicted 
that  inside  of  thirty  days  I  would  too.  He  said  he 
wouldn't  go  back  to  the  farm  for  anything.  He  sent 
most  of  his  money  home,  thereby  helping  his  poor 
old  parents  more  than  he  could  in  any  other  way. 

He  admitted  that  the  talk  I  had  heard  so  much  of, 
in  regard  to  killing  and  maiming,  was  by  no  means 
exaggerated,  but  believed  that  it  was  largely  due  to 
the  recklessness  of  the  men  themselves,  and  he 
hoped  to  escape  the  almost  universal  fate  by  being 
careful.  Poor  fellow  !  he  was  blown  from  the  top 
of  his  train  a  few  months  afterwards,  and  found  by 
the  section  gang,  frozen  stiff. 

Being  considerably  cheered  by  my  new  friend's 
advice,  and  the  good-natured,  jolly  appearance  of 
other  boarders,  who  seemed  pleased  to  make  a  new 
acquaintance,  and  were  quite  free  with  advice  and 
criticisms  of  everybody  above  them,  from  the  yard- 
master  to  the  president  of  the  road,  I  reconsidered 
my  decision,  and  reported  for  duty  at  six  o'clock  the 
next  morning,  and  worked  all  day  with  no  more 
thrilling  adventure  than  an  occasional  cursing  from 
sooty  Bill,  which,  however,  I  soon  learned  to  disre 
gard  entirely. 

Before  I  had  been  a  week  in  the  yard,  I  was  well 
broken  in,  and  had  acquired  the  reckless  air  which 


32       THE  GENERAL  MANAGER'S  STORY 

is  the  second  stage  in  the  greenhorn's  experience, 
and  is  characteristic  of  the  period  before  he  gets 
hurt. 

I  delighted  in  catching  and  riding  on  the  most 
swiftly  flying  cars,  and  became  an  expert  at  making 
h—  fired  couplings  and  flying  switches.  Occasion 
ally  an  old  hand  would  say,  with  a  wise  shake  of  the 
head,  "  You'll  git  it  bimeby,"  but  I  only  laughed. 

It  was  four  or  five  months  before  I  "got  it."  I 
was  making  a  coupling  one  afternoon,  had  balanced 
the  pin  in  the  drawhead  of  the  stationary  car,  and 
was  running  along  ahead  of  the  other,  holding  up 
the  link,  when  just  before  coming  together  she  left 
the  track,  having  jumped  a  frog.  Hearing  the 
racket  behind  me,  I  sprang  to  one  side ;  but  my  toe 
touching  the  top  of  the  rail  prevented  me  from  get 
ting  quite  clear.  I  was  caught  between  the  corners 
of  the  cars  as  they  came  together  and  heard  my  ribs 
cave  in,  like  smashing  an  old  box  with  an  axe. 

The  car  stopped  just  right  to  hold  me  as  in  a  vice. 
I  nearly  fainted  with  pain,  and  from  inability  to 
breathe.  Fortunately  Mr.  Simmons  was  watching  me, 
and  with  the  rare  presence  of  mind  due  to  long 
service  he  called  at  once  for  the  switch-rope.  He 
wouldn't  allow  the  engine  to  come  back  and  couple 
to  the  car  again,  as  it  would  be  almost  sure  to  crush 
out  my  little  remaining  life.  It  seemed  to  me  that  I 
should  surely  suffocate  before  they  got  that  switch- 
rope  hooked  on  to  the  side  of  the  car,  though  I  knew 
the  boys  were  hustling  for  dear  life ;  but  I  tell  you 


"  I  delighted  in  catching  and  riding  on  the  most  swiftly 
flying  cars." — p.  32. 


BREAKING  IN  33 

when  your  breath  is  shut  off,  seconds  are  hours. 
My  head  was  bursting,  and  I  became  blind;  there 
was  a  terrible  roaring  in  my  ears,  and  then  as  the 
engine  settled  back  on  the  switch-rope,  I  felt  a  life- 
giving  relief  as  I  fell  fainting  but  thankful  into  the 
arms  of  the  boys. 

I  was  carried  to  the  yardmaster's  office,  every  step 
of  the  way  the  jagged  ends  of  my  broken  ribs  prick 
ing  and  grating  as  though  they  would  punch  holes 
in  me,  and  my  breath  coming  in  short  suffocating 
gasps.  The  company's  doctor  was  summoned,  a 
young  fellow  fresh  from  college,  whose  necessities 
compelled  him  to  accept  the  twenty-five  dollars  a 
month  which  they  paid  for  medical  attendance  for 
damaged  employees.  He  cut  my  clothes  off,  and 
after  half  murdering  me  by  punching  and  squeezing, 
asking  all  the  time  what  I  was  hollering  about, 
finally  remarked,  — 

"  There's  nothing  much  the  matter  with  him ;  few 
of  his  slats  stove  in,  that's  all."  He  then  bandaged 
me,  and  a  couple  of  the  boys  half  carried  and  half 
led  me  to  the  boarding-house,  where  I  was  mighty 
glad  to  be,  for  I  was  pretty  well  exhausted. 

There  I  lay  unable  to  move,  without  help,  for  six 
weeks,  visited  by  the  doctor  daily  for  a  while,  and 
then  at  less  frequent  intervals ;  but  some  of  the  boys 
were  with  me  nearly  all  the  time.  They  kept  me 
posted  as  to  what  was  going  on  in  the  yard,  and 
cheered  me  up  greatly  by  telling  of  their  own  various 
mishaps  in  the  past.  I  found  to  my  surprise  that 


34       THE  GENERAL  MANAGER'S  STORY 

few  of  them  had  escaped  broken  bones  and  smashed 
lingers,  and  I  was  assured  that  broken  ribs  were 
nothing,  absolutely  nothing;  I  ought  to  have  a 
broken  leg  or  dislocated  shoulder  pulled  into  place ; 
then  I  would  know  something  about  it. 

Their  talk  restored  my  spirits  wonderfully;  for 
whereas  I  had  been  disconsolate  at  the  thought  that 
I  was  now  a  physical  wreck,  fit  only  for  a  job  of  flag 
ging  on  some  road-crossing  at  twenty  dollars  a 
month,  I  now  found  that  the  boys  whom  I  had  seen 
racing  about  the  yard  all  day,  shouting,  giving  sig 
nals,  and  climbing  on  and  off  cars,  had  nearly  all  of 
them  been  much  worse  broken  up  than  I  was,  and 
some  of  them  several  times,  yet  they  were  apparently 
as  sound  as  ever.  Even  Simmons,  who  appeared  to 
be  a  particularly  fine  specimen  of  physical  manhood, 
told  me  that  he  once  fell  while  running  ahead  of  a 
car,  just  as  I  had  been  doing,  and  twelve  cars  and 
the  engine  passed  over  him,  rolling  him  over  and 
over,  breaking  both  his  legs,  and,  as  he  said,  mixing 
up  his  insides  in  such  a  way  that  his  victuals  didn't 
do  him  much  good  for  a  year  after. 

I  was  laid  up  two  months,  and  the  very  first  day  I 
returned  to  work,  I  saw  a  sight  that  nearly  discour 
aged  me  altogether.  There  were  two  brothers  in 
one  of  the  drill  crews:  one  was  conductor,  and  the 
other  brakeman.  As  frequently  happens,  Pete,  the 
conductor,  considered  his  brother  Jim  the  poorest 
man  in  the  crew,  and  of  course  himself  the  best,  so  he 
was  always  shouting  and  yelling  at  him. 


BREAKING  IN  35 

On  this  occasion  I  was  on  the  ground,  giving  the 
signal  to  Simmons,  who  passed  it  on  to  the  engineer, 
when  I  heard  Pete  hollering  as  usual  at  Jim,  telling 
him  to  either  pull  the  pin,  or  get  to  h —  out  o'  there 
and  let  a  man  do  it.  There  was  nothing  unusual 
about  that,  but  I  glanced  in  their  direction  just  in 
time  to  see  Pete  rush  at  Jim  in  a  rage,  yank  him  out 
from  between  the  cars,  and  step  in  himself. 

They  were  coming  back  pretty  lively,  and  he 
wanted  to  kick  the  last  car  in  on  a  spur,  and  proceed 
back  with  the  rest  of  his  train  without  stopping.  It 
had  to  be  done  just  right,  and  mighty  quick,  in  order 
to  be  a  success ;  that  was  why  he  was  so  aggravated 
at  Jim  for  not  getting  the  pin  out  fast  enough. 

Before  he  could  get  the  pin  out  himself,  his  foot 
caught  in  the  guard  rail,  opposite  the  frog.  He 
grabbed  the  step  of  the  car,  and  hung  with  a  death 
grip  for  an  instant ;  but  it  was  no  use,  his  foot  was 
tightly  wedged.  I  distinctly  saw  his  face  as  the 
step  was  torn  from  his  grasp,  and  it  haunted  me  long 
afterward.  A  dozen  cars  went  over  him  before  the 
engine  stopped,  and  his  remains  were  scattered  along 
the  track,  and  ground  into  small  fragments. 

I  turned  sick  and  faint,  and  for  the  rest  of  that 
day,  every  time  I  thought  of  his  white,  agonized  face, 
I  was  nearly  overcome. 


CHAPTER   IV 

RAILROAD    MEN'S    THEORIES    IN    REGARD    TO    MAIMING 
AND     KILLING  —  A    CASE    IN    POINT  —  ANOTHER  — 

ON    THE    ROAD THE    CABOOSE  —  ON    THE    ENGINE 

TOM   RILEY  —  A   CLEVER   TRICK 

IN  the  boarding-house  that  evening  I  expressed 
my  horror  at  the  fate  that  had  befallen  poor  Pete, 
and  was  surprised  to  find  that  among  the  men  his 
was  not  considered  by  any  means  a  deplorable  case, 
but  if  anything  rather  fortunate ;  for  they  argued 
that  he  had  no  time  to  suffer,  and  that  he  was 
much  better  off  dead  than  he  would  have  been  if 
crippled  for  life. 

While  this  argument  may  seem  rather  heartless,  I 
must  confess  that  years  of  experience  have  since 
taught  me  its  truth.  I  have  seen  and  conversed 
with  many  men  who  have  survived  terrible  accidents, 
and  their  universal  testimony  has  been  that  they 
experienced  no  suffering  at  the  time,  but  had  simply 
lapsed  into  unconsciousness,  so  that  now  when  I  read 
in  the  papers  the  heart-rending  details  of  the  hor 
rible  deaths  by  railroad  wreck,  of  those  who  were 
killed,  they  fail  to  move  me,  for  I  know  that  theirs 
was  an  enviably  easy  exit. 

I  knew  a  fireman  who  worked  two  or  three  hours 
36 


A  CLEVER  TRICK  37 

getting  his  engine  ready,  backed  on  to  the  train,  and 
fired  for  twenty  miles  on  the  road,  when,  on  round 
ing  a  curve,  the  engineer,  seeing  a  locomotive  head 
light  in  front  of  him,  shouted  to  the  fireman  to  jump. 
Instinctively  he  pulled  the  firebox  door  open,  and 
blinded  by  the  glare  of  the  fire,  jumped  square  out 
into  the  darkness. 

He  was  rolled  over,  and  over,  and  very  badly  hurt ; 
his  face  was  fearfully  cut  and  lacerated,  and  several 
bones  were  broken. 

Both  men  had  seen  the  headlight  through  the 
trees  before  rounding  the  curve,  but  as  they  got  no 
flag,  supposed,  of  course,  that  she  was  on  her  own 
track. 

It  was  the  way  freight  that  had  crossed  over  to 
load  some  freight  that  had  been  left  on  the  station 
platform  on  that  side.  The  conductor  had  sent  his 
flag  ahead,  to  hold  opposing  trains,  but  the  flagman, 
instead  of  attending  to  business,  set  his  red  lamp  on 
a  tie,  and  taking  the  white  one,  went  looking  for 
chestnuts  in  the  woods.  The  red  lamp,  left  to  itself, 
went  out,  and  hence  the  collision. 

When  the  engineer  saw  that  it  was  inevitable,  he 
shut  off,  reversed,  and  blew  brakes.  She  was  one 
of  those  old-fashioned  engines,  with  the  throttle  stem 
through  the  boiler  head ;  so  that  when  he  had  done 
all  in  his  power  to  stop,  and  it  was  too  late  to  jump, 
the  tender  at  the  moment  of  collision  leaped  up  and 
pinned  the  unfortunate  man  fast  to  the  hot  boiler 
head.  The  coal  shooting  forward,  from  the  sudden 


38       THE  GENERAL  MANAGER'S  STORY 

stoppage,  filled  the  cab,  and  buried  him  completely 
from  sight. 

When  the  train  men  came  to  look  for  the  engine 
crew,  they  were  nowhere  to  be  found,  but  soon  the 
odor  of  roasting  human  flesh  gave  them  the  clew, 
and  procuring  shovels  they  frantically  threw  out  the 
coal,  only  to  find  the  dead  engineer  sole  occupant  of 
the  wreck.  Knowing  that  the  fireman  had  either 
jumped  or  been  thrown  off,  one  party  searched  the 
track  with  lanterns,  and  soon  found  him  in  the  ditch 
covered  with  blood  and  dirt,  his  clothes  nearly  all 
torn  off,  and  apparently  dead. 

He  revived,  however,  after  being  carried  into  the 
station,  and  the  application  of  such  simple  but  effec 
tive  remedies  as  railroad  men  know  of.  He  ap 
peared  to  have  entirely  recovered  his  senses,  told 
what  he  knew  of  the  wreck,  and  expressed  genuine 
sorrow  for  the  fate  of  his  engineer.  A  passenger 
train  was  flagged,  and  he  was  sent  into  the  hospital ; 
he  conversed  as  well  as  he  could  with  the  train 
crew,  telling  them  all  that  had  happened,  not  only 
what  he  knew  himself,  but  also  what  the  others  had 
told  him.  After  his  wounds  were  dressed  in  the  hos 
pital,  he  was  taken  with  a  fever,  and  for  several  days 
hovered  between  life  and  death. 

On  his  recovery  he  was  unable  to  remember  a 
single  circumstance  later  than  the  eating  of  his  din 
ner  at  home  on  the  day  of  the  wreck. 

I  knew  an  engineer  who  had  occasion  to  jump, 
and  not  liking  the  looks  of  the  big  rock  fill  on  his 


A  CLEVER  TRICK  39 

side,  he  jumped  down  in  the  tender  where  the  fire 
man  was  watching  for  a  good  chance  on  his  own 
side.  They  were  both  picked  up  for  dead,  but 
whether  they  jumped  or  were  thrown  off  neither 
could  ever  tell:  the  last  thing  the  engineer  remem 
bered  was  telling  the  fireman  to  hurry  up,  so  that  he 
could  get  off  too. 

Shortly  after  my  return  to  work  Simmons  got  one 
side  of  a  new  freight  train,  and  to  my  great  delight 
took  me  with  him  on  the  road.  I  was  not  only  glad 
to  get  out  of  the  slaughter-house,  with  my  full  com 
plement  of  limbs,  but  I  was  also  pleased  at  the  pros 
pect  of  at  last  learning  practical  railroading,  of  which 
I  had  heard  so  much. 

We  had  a  fine  big  eight-wheel  caboose,  right  out 
of  the  paint  shop,  red  outside,  and  green  inside. 
There  were  six  bunks  in  her,  a  row  of  lockers  on 
each  side,  to  sit  on  and  keep  supplies  in,  a  stove 
and  table,  and  a  desk  for  the  conductor.  We  fur 
nished  our  own  bedding  and  cooking-utensils,  and  as 
Simmons  wouldn't  have  any  but  nice  fellows  around 
him,  we  had  a  pleasant  and  comfortable  home  on 
wheels.  We  each  contributed  to  the  mess,  except 
the  flagman,  and  as  he  did  the  cooking,  he  messed 
free.  We  took  turns  cleaning  up,  and  as  the  boys 
had  good  taste,  we  soon  had  the  car  looking  like  a 
young  lady's  boudoir.  We  had  lace  curtains  in  front 
of  the  bunks,  a  strip  of  oil  cloth  on  the  floor,  a  mat 
that  the  flagman  had  "  swiped  "  from  a  sleeper,  a  ca 
nary  in  a  cage,  and  a  dog. 


4O       THE  GENERAL  MANAGER'S  STORY 

As  a  younger  man  than  I  had  been  assigned  to  us, 
I  was  second  man,  which  gave  me  the  head  of  the 
train ;  so  I  rode  on  the  engine,  and  was  the  engineer's 
flag. 

I  ran  ahead  when  necessary  to  protect  our  end, 
opened  and  closed  switches,  cut  off  and  coupled  on 
the  engine,  held  the  train  on  down  grades,  watched 
out  for  the  caboose  on  curves,  took  water,  shovelled 
down  coal  to  the  fireman,  rang  the  bell  at  crossings, 
put  on  the  blower,  oiled  the  valves,  and  handed  the 
engineer  oil-cans,  wrenches,  and  lights  for  his  pipe. 

I  now  scraped  acquaintance  with  that  formidable 
document,  the  time  table,  and  heard  train  orders, 
and  the  officers  who  issued  them,  discussed  by  such 
high  authorities  as  conductors  and  engineers,  and  I 
listened  in  rapt  astonishment  at  the  deep  erudition 
which  they  displayed  in  handling  these  subjects.  I 
soon  learned  that  the  officers  on  our  road  "  didn't 
know  nothing,"  and  that  "where  /come  from"  they 
would  not  have  been  allowed  to  "sit  on  the  fence 
and  watch  the  trains  go  by,"  whereupon  I  conceived 
a  great  wonder  as  to  how  the  road  survived  under 
such  densely  incompetent  management. 

I  enjoyed  riding  on  the  engines,  as  the  engineers 
and  firemen  were  fine,  sociable  fellows,  and  when  we 
were  a  little  late,  and  had  a  passing  point  to  make, 
the  engineer  would  sometimes  say,  "  Don't  you  set 
no  brakes  goin'  down  here;  I  got  to  git  a  gait  on 
'em."  Then  when  the  train  pitched  over  the  top  of 
the  hill,  he  would  cut  her  back  a  notch  at  a  time,  till 


"  I  watch  that  grimy  left  hand  on  the  throttle."  —  p.  41. 


A  CLEVER  TRICK  41 

he  got  her  near  the  centre,  and  gradually  work  his 
throttle  out  wide  open.  How  she  would  fly  down 
hill,  the  exhaust  a  steady  roar  out  of  the  stack,  the 
connecting-rods  an  undistinguishable  blur,  the  old 
girl  herself  rolling  and  jumping  as  if  at  every  revolu 
tion  she  must  leave  the  track,  the  train  behind  hair 
hid  in  a  cloud  of  dust,  and  I  hanging  on  to  the  side 
of  the  cab  for  dear  life,  watching  out  ahead  where  I 
know  there  is  a  sharp  reverse  curve,  and  hoping,  oh, 
so  much,  that  he'll  shut  her  off  before  we  get  there. 

I  watch  that  grimy  left  hand  on  the  throttle  for 
the  preliminary  swelling  of  the  muscles,  that  will 
show  me  he  is  taking  a  grip  on  it  to  shove  it  in. 
Not  a  sign ;  his  head  and  half  his  body  are  out  the 
window;  and  now  we  are  upon  it.  I  give  one  fright 
ened  glance  at  the  too  convenient  ditch,  where  I 
surely  expect  to  land,  and  take  a  death  grip  of  the 
side  of  the  cab.  Whang !  She  hits  the  curve,  seems 
to  upset ;  I  am  nearly  flung  out  the  window  in  spite 
of  my  good  grip.  Before  she  has  half  done  rolling 
(how  do  the  springs  ever  stand  it?)  she  hits  the 
reverse,  and  I  am  torn  from  my  hold  on  the  window 
and  slammed  over  against  the  boiler,  and  having 
passed  this  most  uncomfortable  place,  she  flies  on, 
rolling  and  roaring  down  the  mountain.  All  this 
time  the  engineer  hasn't  moved  an  eyelid,  nor  the 
firemen  interrupted  for  an  instant  the  steady  pen 
dulum-like  swing  of  the  fire-door  and  the  scoop- 
shovel.  How  do  they  do  it  ?  Oh,  it's  easy  after  you 
get  used  to  it. 


42        THE  GENERAL  MANAGER'S  STORY 

Fifteen  minutes  afterward,  in  the  siding,  with 
switches  locked  waiting  for  the  flyer,  nobody  seems 
to  remember  that  we  have  done  anything  in  par 
ticular. 

At  first  I  had  considered  the  locomotive  as  far  too 
complicated  a  machine  for  me  ever  to  understand,  but 
gradually  I  learned  its  various  parts ;  and  when  I 
found  that  nearly  all  the  engineers  and  firemen  had 
risen  from  brakemen  like  myself,  I  took  heart,  and 
hoped  that  some  day  I  might  sit  on  the  right  side,  to 
be  spoken  to  with  some  slight  deference  by  the 
officials,  and  stared  at  in  open-mouthed  admiration 
by  the  small  boys  at  the  country  stations. 

Old  Tom  Riley  was  a  man  to  whom  I  looked  up 
as  the  epitome  of  railroad  knowledge.  He  frequently 
hauled  our  train ;  he  was  so  old  that  the  top  of  his 
head  was  perfectly  bald,  but  he  had  a  great  mop  of 
gray  beard,  with  a  yellowish  streak  from  the  chin 
down,  an  evidence  of  many  years  of  tobacco-chewing, 
and  unsuccessful  efforts  to  spit  to  windward. 

He  was  supposed  to  be  the  oldest  engineer  any 
where  about,  and  said  himself,  that  his  "first  job 
railroadin'  wos  wipin'  the  donkey  engine  in  Noah's 
ark."  He  was  a  good-natured,  jolly  old  fellow,  a 
great  practical  joker,  strong,  and  rough  as  a  bear, 
but  as  well  pleased  apparently  when  the  joke  was  on 
himself,  as  any  other  way.  He  had  been  so  long  at 
the  business  that  he  knew  all  sorts  of  tricks  by  which 
to  get  himself  out  of  tight  places,  so  that  it  was 
seldom  indeed  that  the  "  super  "  had  the  pleasure  of 


A  CLEVER  TRICK  43 

hauling  Tom  on  the  carpet  for  a  violation  of  the 
rules. 

One  night  we  were  a  little  late,  so  that  we  barely 
had  time  to  make  the  siding  for  a  following  passen 
ger  train,  and  to  make  matters  worse,  when  we  were 
about  halfway  there,  Tom  said  he  smelt  something 
hot,  so  he  stopped,  and  found  his  main  crank-pin 
about  ready  to  blaze  up.  The  oil-cup  had  stopped 
feeding ;  so  he  deliberately  took  it  out,  filled  the  hole 
with  tallow,  screwed  in  the  cup,  called  his  flag,  and 
started  again,  very  late. 

Simmons  came  up  over  the  train  and  said  he 
guessed  he'd  leave  a  flag  at  the  bottom  of  the  hill  to 
hold  No.  6  till  we  got  in. 

" No,  no,"  says  old  Tom;  " don't  ye  never  drop  off 
no  flag  to  give  yourself  away,  git  called  ter  the 
office,  an'  all  hands  git  ten  days." 

"You  can't  get  to  the  switch  on  time,"  said 
Simmons. 

"  Course  not.  I  ought  ter  be  there  in  twenty  min 
utes,  an'  I'll  be  lucky  if  I  git  there  in  twenty-five." 

"Well,  then,  I'll  have  to  drop  off  a  flag,  or  they'll 
git  our  *  doghouse.'  " 

"  Now  here,  Simmons,  I'll  tell  ye  what  you  do : 
you  go  back  in  the  doghouse,  an'  don't  you  see 
nothin'  that's  goin'  on ;  only  git  up  in  the  cupalo  an' 
watch  out  good  an'  sharp  that  yer  train  don't  break 
in  two.  I'll  git  ye  inter  the  switch  time  enough,  so 
six '11  never  see  yer  tail  lights." 

Simmons,  knowing  his  man,  at  last  agreed,  and 


44       THE  GENERAL  MANAGER'S  STORY 

after  he  had  got  safely  housed,  Tom  handed  me  his 
long  oil-can,  and  told  me  to  go  back  on  the  step  of 
the  caboose,  and  oil  first  one  rail,  and  then  the  other. 

"  Let  the  oil  run  about  a  car  length  on  one  rail, 
an'  then  do  the  same  the  other  side;  repeat  the  dose 
once,  an'  come  ahead  agin,"  said  Tom. 

I  did  so,  and  just  as  we  were  pulling  in  to  the  side 
track,  we  heard  the  exhaust  of  the  passenger  engine, 
as  she  came  clipping  along  for  the  hill;  presently 
we  could  tell  by  the  sound  that  she  had  struck  the 
grade,  then  —  cha-cha-ch-r-r-r  cha-ch-r-r-r. 

"Oho!"  says  Tom,  "are  ye  there?  Grind  away, 
my  boy.  I  guess  old  Tom  '11  git  in  an'  git  the  switch 
locked  before  you  git  up  here,  all  right." 

He  did,  too.  Long  before  the  passenger  engine 
got  by  the  oil,  we  were  comfortably  smoking  our 
pipes  in  the  switch,  and  when  she  went  sailing  by, 
her  engineer  shouted  something  that  we  couldn't 
catch,  but  to  which  Tom  replied,  — 

"Go  ahead,  sonny;  you're  all  right." 

Next  day,  as  Tom  was  doing  a  little  packing  in 
the  roundhouse,  the  engineer  of  "six"  came  up  to 
him  and  said,  — 

"  Riley,  was  that  you  in  Snyders'  when  I  went  by 
last  night?" 

"  Yes,"  says  Tom.     "  A  little  late,  wa'n't  ye  ? " 

"  Late  ?  I  sh'd  say  so.  I  never  saw  Snyders'  so 
slippery  as  'twas  last  night.  I  used  half  a  box  of  sand. 
How'd  you  git  there  ? " 

"Oh,  I  didn't  have  no  trouble,"  says  Tom.     "I 


"  Her  engineer  shouted  something  that  we  couldn't 
catch." — p.  44. 


A  CLEVER  TRICK  45 

didn't  notice  that  'twas  any  slipperyer  'n  usual ;  guess 
maybe  the  pet  cock  on  yer  pump  might  'a'  been 
leakin'  a  little  or  suthin,  an'  wet  the  rail  fer  ye." 

"Mebbe  so,"  says  the  other  fellow;  and  away  he 
went  to  look  his  engine  over,  and  see  if  such  was  the 
case. 


CHAPTER  V 

APPLIES    FOR    A    FIREMAN'S    POSITION KEEPING    HER 

TAIL    UP A    MISTAKE    IN    ORDER A    BAD    WRECK 

A   HAIR-BREADTH   ESCAPE 

I  "BROKE"  a  year,  and  by  that  time  was  of  some 
use.  I  could  read  the  time  table,  discuss  train  orders, 
and  knew  the  trains  by  heart.  I  had  written  to  my 
mother,  telling  her  that  I  was  employed  on  the  rail 
road,  but  not  in  what  capacity.  I  heard  in  reply  that 
my  father  was  far  from  well,  and  while  the  news 
damped  my  spirits  momentarily,  I  soon  forgot  it,  in 
the  excitement  of  things  of  more  immediate  interest 
to  myself. 

I  came  to  the  conclusion  that  the  engine  offered 
more  opportunities  of  advancement  than  the  caboose, 
so  by  Tom  Riley's  advice  I  filed  an  application  with 
the  master  mechanic,  asking  for  a  position  as  fireman  ; 
and  though  I  must  admit  that  he  didn't  give  me  the 
slightest  encouragement,  yet  the  fact  that  I  had  my 
application  on  file  made  me  feel  that  I  was  sure  of 
a  job,  and  that,  too,  at  no  very  distant  day,  so  I 
began  to  take  a  greater  interest  than  ever  in  the 
engines,  and  I  presume  I  made  a  nuisance  of  myself 
by  asking  innumerable  questions  of  the  engineers 
and  firemen,  so  anxious  was  I  to  learn  all  I  could  in 

46 


A  MISTAKE   IN   ORDER  47 

regard  to  the  machine,  for  which,  even  to  this  day, 
I  have  an  abiding  love  and  respect.  The  amount  of 
misinformation  that  I  acquired  was  sufficient  to  have 
wrecked  any  road  in  the  country,  if  I  had  been  in 
a  position  to  put  it  into  effect.  Some,  no  doubt,  was 
given  me  unconsciously,  or  rather  mischievously, 
that  I  might  make  a  show  of  myself  in  the  argu 
ments  in  which  I  was  so  fond  of  indulging  with  the 
firemen ;  but  by  far  the  larger  part  due  to  the  igno 
rance  of  those  on  whom  I  relied  for  information,  for 
at  this  period  I  was  unable  to  distinguish  between 
those  who  were  and  those  who  were  not  competent 
to  furnish  what  I  was  so  desirous  of  obtaining.  To 
me  it  seemed  that  all  alike,  engineers  and  firemen, 
were  good  authorities  on  the  subject,  though  before 
I  got  through  with  them  I  was  pretty  well  able  to 
sift  the  wheat  from  the  chaff. 

Sometimes  when  the  train  was  not  too  heavy,  and 
the  grade  was  favorable,  one  or  other  of  the  firemen 
would  let  me  "  take  her  "  for  a  bit;  and  then  if  I  was 
able  to  "keep  her  tail  up/'  I  felt  myself  indeed  a 
man,  and  never  failed  to  let  it  be  known  in  the 
caboose  that  I  had  fired  on  a  certain  stretch  of  the 
road.  But  if  while  I  was  at  the  shovel  she  dropped 
her  tail,  and  the  fireman  had  to  take  her  from  me, 
I  would  not  allude  to  that  episode,  when  bragging  of 
my  abilities;  but  the  men  were  sure  to  hear  of  it, 
and  the  guying  I  got  fully  offset  my  petty  triumphs. 

About  six  months  after  I  filed  my  application, 
there  was  a  mistake  made  in  orders,  that  came  very 


48       THE  GENERAL  MANAGER'S  STORY 

near  winding  up  my  railroad  career  for  good.  I  did 
not  know  at  the  time  exactly  what  the  trouble  was, 
nor  can  I  say  now  positively.  Simmons  and  the 
engineer,  who  were  both  discharged,  asserted  that 
they  were  sacrificed  to  save  the  despatcher,  who  was 
a  son-in-law  of  the  president  of  the  road. 

Whoever  was  to  blame,  the  result  was  disastrous  ; 
for  we  met  the  train  which  we  expected  to  pass  at 
the  next  siding,  in  a  deep  cut  under  a  railroad  bridge. 
Both  trains  were  wheeling  down  under  the  bridge  at 
a  forty-mile  gait,  so  as  to  have  a  good  headway  on,  to 
take  them  out  the  other  side.  As  the  view  of  both 
engineers  was  obstructed  by  the  stone  abutments  of 
the  bridge,  neither  doubted  for  a  moment  that  he 
had  a  clear  track. 

They  met  exactly  under  the  bridge  with  a  shock 
and  roar  that  seemed  to  shake  the  solid  earth ;  the 
locomotives  reared  up  like  horses,  the  cars  shoved 
their  tenders  under  them  in  such  a  way  as  to  jack 
them  up  and  raise  the  bridge  off  its  abutments ;  and 
then  as  the  cars  climbed  on  top  of  each  other,  they 
battered  it  from  its  position  until  it  lay  nearly  at 
right  angles  to  its  own  road  like  an  open  draw,  rest 
ing  on  top  of  the  wreck. 

Our  conductors  sent  flags  back  both  ways  to  hold 
all  trains ;  but  before  the  men  could  get  up  the  bank 
to  flag  on  the  cross-country  road,  a  belated  gravel 
train  came  hurrying  along,  and  plumped  in  on  top  of 
us,  helping  to  fill  up  the  cut  still  more.  Their  engine 
set  fire  to  the  wreck,  and  as  we  were  some  distance 


They  met  exactly  under  the  bridge."  —  p. 


A  MISTAKE  IN  ORDER  49 

.rom  a  telegraph  office,  all  three  trains  and  engines 
were  entirely  consumed  before  help  reached  us, 
nothing  remaining  but  a  tangled  and  twisted  mass 
of  boilers,  wheels,  rods,  and  pipes,  partly  covered  by 
the  gravel  train's  load  of  sand. 

I  was  on  the  engine,  sitting  on  the  fireman's  seat, 
looking  out  ahead.  As  it  was  daylight,  there  was 
not  even  the  glare  of  a  head-lamp  to  give  us  the 
fraction  of  a  second's  warning,  and  our  own  engine 
made  such  a  roaring  in  the  narrow  cut  that  we  could 
hear  nothing  else.  The  first  intimation  we  had  of 
approaching  danger  was  when  we  saw  the  front  end 
of  the  other  locomotive  not  forty  feet  from  us. 
Neither  of  the  engineers  had  time  to  close  their 
throttles — an  act  that  is  done  instinctively  on  the  first 
appearance  of  danger. 

I  cannot  say  that  I  was  frightened.  Even  the 
familiar  "jumping  of  the  heart  into  the  throat," 
which  so  well  describes  the  sensation  usually  experi 
enced  on  the  sudden  discovery  of  deadly  peril,  was 
absent ;  for  though  I  certainly  saw  the  front  end  of 
that  engine  as  plainly  as  I  ever  saw  anything  in  my 
life,  I  had  no  time  to  realize  what  it  meant.  I  made 
no  move  or  effort  of  any  kind,  and  it  seemed  that  at 
the  same  instant  that  she  burst  upon  my  view,  day 
light  was  shut  out  and  I  was  drenched  with  cold 
water ;  yet  before  that  happened,  they  had  come 
together,  reared  up  as  I  have  said,  and  I  h*d  been 
thrown  to  the  front  of  the  cab,  the  tender  had  come 
ahead,  staving  the  cab  to  pieces,  thereby  dropping 


50       THE  GENERAL  MANAGER'S  STORY 

me  out  on  the  ground,  and  by  knocking  a  hole  in 
itself  against  the  back  driving-wheel,  had  deluged 
me  with  its  contents. 

The  flood  of  cold  water  caused  me,  bewildered  as  I 
was,  to  try  and  get  away  from  it.  I  knew  I  was 
under  the  wreck,  and  for  a  few  minutes  I  could  hear 
the  cars  piling  up,  and  grinding  overhead. 

I  knew  what  that  was  too,  and  feared  they  would 
smash  the  wreck  down  on  top  of  me,  and  so  squeeze 
my  life  out.  But  the  engine  acted  as  a  fender ;  for 
being  jammed  among  the  wreckage,  she  could  not  be 
pushed  over,  and  as  she  stood  on  her  rear  wheels  she 
could  not  be  mashed  down. 

The  noise  soon  ceased,  and  then  except  for  the 
sound  of  steam  escaping  from  the  boilers,  I  could 
hear  nothing;  then  I  remembered  that  the  boilers 
themselves  were  a  fruitful  source  of  danger  to  me,  as 
there  might  be  a  hole  knocked  in  the  water-space 
that  would  pour  out  a  scalding  flood  and  boil  me 
alive.  I  had  heard,  too,  of  boilers  in  inaccessible 
localities  losing  the  water  from  about  the  furnaces, 
and  getting  the  iron  so  hot  and  soft,  that  it  would 
give  out  like  wet  paper,  blowing  up  and  scalding 
any  unfortunate  who  might  be  imprisoned  near  it. 
I  knew,  too,  that  wrecks  had  a  way  of  taking  fire 
from  the  locomotive.  These  thoughts  occurred  to 
me  much  more  rapidly  than  I  could  tell  them,  and 
spurred  me  on  to  do  my  utmost  to  get  out  of  there. 

It  was  perfectly  dark  where  I  was ;  and,  as  I  knew, 
it  was  still  daylight  outside.  This  proved  to  me  how 


A  MISTAKE   IN  ORDER  51 

completely  I  was  buried  under  the  wreck,  and  was 
far  from  reassuring.  How  could  I  ever  hope  to 
make  my  way  from  under  those  tons  of  cars  and 
engines  ?  The  only  wonder  was  that  I  had  escaped 
being  killed  instantly,  and  for  a  few  minutes  I  felt 
but  little  gratitude  at  having  been  spared,  only  to  be 
slowly  tortured  to  death. 

When  I  attempted  to  move,  I  found  that  as  far  as 
sensation  was  concerned,  my  right  leg  ended  at  the 
knee,  so  I  felt  down  to  see  if  it  was  cut  off,  as  I 
knew  it  would  be  necessary  to  stanch  the  flow  of 
blood  in  that  case,  or  I  would  soon  die  from  that 
cause  alone.  To  my  great  joy,  I  found  that  my  leg 
and  foot  were  still  with  me,  though  how  badly  hurt 
I  was  unable  to  tell,  for  being  drenched  with  water, 
the  blood  might,  for  all  I  knew,  be  flowing  from 
many  severe  wounds. 

At  this  moment  there  was  another  crash,  and 
grinding  and  splintering  overhead,  caused  by  the 
wrecking  of  the  gravel  train,  but  which  I  attributed 
to  the  explosion  of  one  of  the  boilers.  In  this  second 
wreck,  two  men  were  killed  outright,  and  the  engineer 
died  of  his  injuries  the  next  day ;  yet  to  it,  I  have  no 
doubt,  I  owe  my  escape,  for  it  disturbed  the  position 
of  the  cars,  so  that  I  perceived  a  ray  of  daylight, 
away,  as  it  seemed,  half  a  mile  ahead  of  me.  I 
exerted  myself  to  the  utmost  to  reach  it,  and  how 
far  off  it  was !  I  had  to  work  my  way  back  under 
the  wrecked  tender  and  several  cars.  I  found  the 
space  under  the  tender  piled  so  full  of  coal  that  it 


52       THE  GENERAL  MANAGER'S  STORY 

was  impossible  to  pass,  yet  that  was  my  only  way 
out ;  so  I  began  digging  with  my  hands,  feverishly, 
madly,  in  the  desire  to  get  away  while  I  still  had  my 
senses  and  strength,  and  oh  how  I  wished  then  I  had 
never  gone  railroading !  What  was  there  in  it  ?  A 
miserable  living  gained  by  the  hardest  kind  of  work, 
with  almost  a  certainty  of  being  crippled,  or  meeting 
death  by  some  horrible  means. 

After  digging  as  it  seemed  for  hours,  until  my 
hands  were  raw  and  bleeding,  and  I  had  blocked  my 
retreat  by  the  coal  I  had  thrown  behind  me,  I  found 
myself  confronted  by  the  axle  of  the  rear  truck, 
which  stood  at  such  an  angle  as  to  positively  forbid 
all  hope  of  my  ever  getting  out  that  way. 

I  sank  down  in  despair,  realizing  that  like  thou 
sands  of  poor  railroaders  who  had  gone  before,  my 
time  had  now  come,  and  here  in  this  dark  close  hole 
was  to  be  the  end  of  me.  I  tried  to  fix  my  mind  on 
such  thoughts  as  I  knew  were  appropriate  to  the  occa 
sion,  but  my  leg  was  so  painful  that  I  could  think  of 
nothing  else.  It  seemed  to  have  swollen  to  twice  its 
size,  and  I  remember  thinking  as  I  lay  there  in  what  I 
believed  to  be  my  living  grave,  that  I  might  at  least 
have  been  spared  that  extra  torment. 

A  numbness  came  over  me,  and  I  seemed  to  be 
falling  into  a  kind  of  stupor,  broken  frequently  by 
the  twinges  of  pain  from  my  leg,  when  my  nostrils 
were  greeted  by  a  faint  odor  of  wood  smoke,  and  my 
heart  was  thrilled  with  a  new  terror  that  urged 
me  to  make  one  more  desperate  effort  to  escape. 


"  It  wasn't  long  before  I  crawled  under  the  truck."  — p.  53. 


A  MISTAKE  IN  ORDER  53 

The  wreck  was  on  fire,  and  though  I  might  have 
resigned  myself  to  lie  still  and  die,  I  could  not  endure 
the  thought  of  being  roasted  alive;  so  again  made 
desperate  by  great  fear,  I  dug  my  bleeding  hands  into 
the  coal,  and  commenced  to  burrow  like  a  woodchuck 
in  the  direction  where  I  could  see  that  the  truck  was 
elevated  highest  above  the  rail,  and  to  my  great  joy 
I  soon  found  that  the  coal  pile  extended  but  a  short 
distance  in  that  direction. 

It  wasn't  long  before  I  had  crawled  under  the 
truck,  which  had  been  raised  from  the  ground  by 
the  corner  of  a  car,  and  was  making  fairly  good 
progress  among  the  tangle  of  wheels,  axles,  and 
brake-gear,  in  the  direction  of  the  ray  of  light  which 
had  first  attracted  my  attention.  I  found  it  came 
down  by  a  very  small,  crooked,  and  much-obstructed 
passage  through  the  debris  of  broken  cars  above  my 
head  —  a  passage  entirely  too  small  for  me  to  get 
through,  and  which  I  could  never  hope  to  enlarge 
myself.  The  smoke  was  now  suffocating,  and  it  was 
only  at  longer  and  longer  intervals  that  I  could 
catch  my  breath.  I  had  not  as  yet  felt  the  heat  of 
the  fire,  but  when  I  looked  up  through  the  narrow 
opening  above  me,  I  could  see  in  the  flying  clouds  of 
smoke  sparks  and  small  firebrands,  which  told  me 
that  the  fire  must  be  raging  fiercely,  and  also  that 
the  wind  was  blowing  it  in  my  direction,  which  in 
duced  me  to  make  the  most  frantic  efforts  to  escape. 
I  might  as  well  have  tried  to  lift  the  ponderous 
locomotive,  as  to  move  the  tightly  wedged  wreckage 


54       THE  GENERAL  MANAGER'S  STORY 

that  imprisoned  me;  and  as  I  glanced  at  the  little 
patch  of  blue  sky,  now  nearly  blotted  out  in  black 
smoke,  an  agonizing  sense  of  my  desperate  situation 
filled  my  mind. 

Why  should  I  endeavor  to  keep  life  in  myself 
until  the  very  last  second,  only  to  endure  all  the 
suffering  there  was  to  be  got  out  of  the  situation  ? 
Why  not  seek  some  swift  and  easy  method  of  escape 
from  the  inevitable  torture  staring  me  in  the  face  ? 
I  opened  my  pocket  knife  —  it  wasn't  very  sharp, 
but  still  it  might  serve  me  at  a  pinch ;  how  much 
better  to  open  an  artery  and  quietly  pass  away,  than 
to  be  suffocated  by  smoke,  or  roasted  by  fire  !  I  sat 
thinking  these  desperate  thoughts,  and  waiting,  I 
presume,  until  my  position  should  become  absolutely 
unbearable,  when  I  saw  a  man  step  across  my  little 
glimpse  of  light.  Having  fortunately  just  refreshed 
myself  by  a  breath  of  fresh  air,  I  let  a  desperate  yell 
out  of  me,  and  saw  him  stop  and  look  all  around,  as 
though  saying  to  himself,  "What  was  that?"  "Here ! 
here !  "  I  shouted ;  "  right  down  in  this  hole,  under 
your  feet !  "  He  looked  down,  and  I  recognized  him 
as  a  brakeman  by  the  name  of  Ben  Shaw,  belonging 
to  the  other  train.  "Is  there  anybody  down  there  ?  " 
he  asked.  "  Yes,"  said  I ;  "  and  for  God's  sake  hurry 
up ;  get  men  and  axes  and  cut  me  out ;  I  am  nearly 
smothered,  and  can't  stand  it  much  longer." 

"  All  right,"  said  he ;  "  I'll  see  what  we  can  do ;  but 
I  don't  believe  we  can  get  you  out,  for  the  fire  is 
coming  this  way  awful  fast." 


A  MISTAKE  IN  ORDER  55 

With  this  extremely  unwelcome  assurance  he  dis 
appeared,  but  I  could  hear  him  shouting  as  he  went, 
and  soon — though  it  seemed  long  enough  to  me  — 
he  returned  with  others,  armed  with  fence-stakes, 
and  wrecking-axes,  and  they  fell  to  with  a  will,  pry 
ing  and  chopping  at  the  obstruction.  On  account  of 
the  smoke  and  heat,  which  was  now  almost  unbear 
able  down  where  I  lay,  they  were  unable  to  work 
more  than  three  or  four  minutes,  when  they  would 
be  driven  away,  gasping  for  breath,  so  that  not  one 
blow  out  of  three  was  effective.  A  chance  blow 
with  an  axe  loosened  a  large  section  of  the  side  of  a 
car,  which  fell  over,  one  corner  striking  me  a  severe 
blow  on  the  head,  cutting  the  scalp,  and  nearly 
knocking  me  senseless.  While  apparently  opening 
the  way,  in  reality  it  closed  it,  for  it  fell  in  such  a 
manner  that  if  I  had  been  above  it,  I  could  easily 
have  got  out,  but  now  I  was  completely  covered  in. 
It  contained  the  door  of  the  car,  however,  which  was 
open  a  few  inches,  and  if  I  could  only  pry  that  door 
back  a  little  more,  I  should  be  able  to  get  through. 
The  question  of  life  or  death  to  me  now  was,  could  I 
do  that  ? 

I  heard  Simmons'  voice,  interrupted  by  violent 
coughing  and  sneezing,  say,  "  How's  that  ?  Can  you 
get  out  now  ? "  "  No,"  said  I ;  "  you'll  have  to  come 
down  in  the  hole  and  clear  away  the  door." 

"  Can't  do  it ;  we  can't  stay  here  another  minute, 
but  I'll  throw  you  down  these  stakes,  and  maybe  you 
can  help  yourself.  Good-bye,  old  man ;  I'm  awful 


56       THE  GENERAL  MANAGER'S  STORY 

sorry  for  you."  Then  there  was  a  clattering  that 
told  me  he  had  thrown  down  the  stakes  as  he  said  he 
would. 

My  eyes  were  so  blinded  by  the  pungent  wood 
smoke,  and  I  was  so  nearly  suffocated,  that  I  had 
but  little  strength  left.  One  of  the  stakes  lay  right 
across  the  slight  opening  in  the  door,  and  in  trying 
to  turn  it  to  pull  it  through,  I  found  I  didn't  need  it, 
as  the  door  moved  freely  in  its  grooves. 

I  quickly  pushed  the  door  back  and  by  a  great 
effort  of  will  and  my  slight  remaining  strength 
dragged  myself  through  the  aperture.  I  wasn't  out 
yet  though,  for  overhead  there  was  a  solid  sheet  of 
flame  roaring  in  the  wind  like  a  furnace,  and  com 
pletely  covering  my  exit.  Although  still  drenched 
with  water,  I  could  feel  my  hair  curling  with  the  in 
tense  heat. 

There  was  one  course,  and  one  only  open  to  me ; 
so  taking  as  long  a  breath  as  I  could,  I  shut  my  eyes 
and  made  a  dive  for  liberty.  I  scrambled  upward, 
and  outward,  now  burning  my  hands  by  contact  with 
hot  iron,  and  again  tearing  them  on  the  jagged 
ends  of  broken  wood,  my  head  fairly  bursting  with 
the  heat  and  suppressed  respiration.  Suddenly  I 
stepped  forward  upon  nothing;  having  no  hold 
with  my  hands  I  fell,  struck  on  my  side,  rebounded 
and  fell  again,  down,  down,  I  could  have  sworn  for 
miles  —  and  then  unconsciousness  came  over  me. 

It  seems  that  when  I  got  out  of  the  hole,  I  rushed 
blindly  off  the  end  of  a  blazing  car,  piled  high  in 


A  MISTAKE  IN  ORDER  57 

the  wreck,  and  in  falling  I  struck  on  various  projec 
tions  of  the  wreckage,  tearing  off  nearly  all  my  cloth 
ing,  which  was  a  providence,  as  I  was  all  ablaze,  and 
finally  brought  up  with  a  dull  thud,  as  the  reporters 
say,  on  solid  ground,  shaking  and  bruising  myself 
dreadfully,  but  almost  miraculously  breaking  no 
bones,  though  I  had  fallen  from  a  height  of  thirty 
feet. 

My  leg  which  had  hindered  me  so  much  was 
merely  bruised  and  crushed,  but  was  as  black  as 
your  hat  for  a  long  time,  and  I  was  as  bald  as  the 
day  I  was  born. 

As  a  crowd  of  natives  had  already  collected,  my 
somewhat  theatrical  appearance  was  not  without 
spectators.  It  was  assumed  that  I  was  dead,  but 
kind  hands  extinguished  the  fire  in  my  few  remaining 
rags,  and  it  was  not  long  before  signs  of  life  were 
discovered  in  the  bruised  and  blackened  object. 

I  was  carried  to  a  near-by  farmhouse  and  kindly 
cared  for  until  the  wrecking-train  returned  to  town, 
when  I  was  sent  to  hospital. 

Our  engineer  escaped  without  a  scratch,  but  how 
he  never  knew ;  for  all  he  could  remember  was,  that 
he  was  looking  right  at  the  number  plate  of  the  ap 
proaching  engine,  and  at  the  same  time  falling  heels 
over  head  up  the  side  of  the  cut.  Of  our  fireman  not 
a  trace  was  ever  found,  and  as  I  heard  nothing  of 
him  while  under  the  wreck,  I  have  no  doubt  that  he 
was  instantly  killed  and  his  body  burnt  up. 

On  the  other  engine,  the  whole  crew,  engineer, 


58       THE  GENERAL  MANAGER'S  STORY 

fireman,  and  head  brakeman  perished,  and  were  con 
sumed  in  the  fierce  flames  that  devoured  the  wreck 
and  made  a  blast  furnace  of  the  narrow  cut.  We 
could  only  hope  that  they  had  been  mercifully  killed 
at  once,  and  not  slowly  roasted  alive,  as  so  many  have 
been,  and  will  continue  to  be  while  railroads  exist. 


CHAPTER  VI 

INVESTIGATION   OF  THE   WRECK  —  VICTIMIZED    BY    THE 

COMPANY  TRAINMEN      INDICTED  ACQUITTED  

DISAPPOINTMENT  —  TOM  RILEY's  SAGE  ADVICE  — 
A  RAILROAD  AUTOCRAT  —  DISCHARGED  —  CHICAGO 
—  FIRING 

I  REMAINED  in  hospital  about  a  week ;  during  which 
time  both  the  coroner  and  the  company's  lawyer 
took  my  affidavit,  as  to  what  I  knew  of  the  orders  by 
which  we  were  running.  I  knew  nothing  about 
them,  but  I  observed  that  the  company's  attorney 
appeared  anxious  to  have  me  remember  having  heard 
that  we  were  to  meet  and  pass  train  3 1  at  Brookdale, 
and  appeared  very  much  disappointed  when  I  was 
unable  to  do  so. 

Brookdale  was  the  last  switch  that  we  passed 
before  the  collision.  It  was  claimed  by  the  company, 
and  admitted  by  the  conductor  of  train  31,  that  their 
orders  read  "meet  and  pass  train  28  at  Brookdale." 
Our  orders  should  have  stated  the  same  passing- 
point,  and  the  company's  witnesses  all  swore  they 
did;  they  even  produced  the  operator's  copy  with 
Simmons'  signature  attached,  in  proof.  Simmons 
swore  the  signature  was  forged,  but  as  it  corre- 

59 


60       THE  GENERAL  MANAGER'S  STORY 

sponded  with  others  which  they  produced  on  former 
orders,  this  statement  had  but  little  effect. 

Both  Simmons  and  the  engineer  swore  that  their 
orders  read  "  Daly's  "  ;  the  flagman  stated  that  Sim 
mons  invariably  read  the  orders  to  him,  asked  him 
how  he  understood  them,  explained  them  if  necessary, 
and  then  filed  them  on  a  hook  in  the  caboose,  where 
they  remained  open  to  inspection  until  fulfilled,  when 
he  put  them  in  his  desk,  to  be  returned  to  the  train- 
despatcher  at  the  end  of  the  trip ;  he  also  swore  that 
our  order  read  "  Daly's." 

The  engineer  said  he  always  read  his  copy  of  all 
orders  to  the  conductor,  to  be  sure  they  understood 
them  alike ;  he  then  filed  them  on  a  hook  in  the  cab, 
and  when  the  hook  was  full,  threw  them  in  the 
firebox. 

Asked  by  the  company's  attorney  if  he  made  a  prac 
tice  of  reading  his  orders  to  the  fireman  and  head 
brakeman,  he  said  no;  but  if  they  asked  what  the 
orders  were,  he  told  them,  and  gave  them  any  infor 
mation  they  asked  for.  For  this  neglect  to  read 
orders  to  every  man  within  reach  he  was  severely 
censured  by  both  the  lawyer  and  the  coroner,  al 
though  there  was  no  rule  requiring  him  to  do  so ; 
"  For,"  said  the  lawyer,  "  if  you  had  done  so,  probably 
some  of  those  men  might  not  have  been  quite  so 
pigheaded  as  you  are,  and  would  have  remembered 
that  Brookdale  was  your  meeting-point." 

The  engineer  replied  that  he  now  wished  he  had, 
as  in  that  case  he  would  have  had  at  least  one  wit- 


A   RAILROAD   AUTOCRAT  6 1 

ness  (me)  to  prove  that  the  despatcher  was  to  blame 
for  the  wreck. 

As  the  conductor's  and  the  engineer's  copies  had 
been  destroyed  in  the  fire,  and  as  the  majority  of  the 
evidence  was  against  them,  the  coroner's  jury  cen 
sured  them  for  the  wreck,  and  they  were  indicted  by 
the  grand  jury  for  manslaughter. 

During  the  time  that  elapsed  between  the  indict 
ment  and  the  trial,  the  operator  who  received  the 
order,  and  swore  that  it  read  "  Brookdale,"  was  trans 
ferred  from  his  little  station  in  the  woods  to  the  best 
paying  station  on  the  road,  and  the  conductor  of 
train  3 1  was  promoted  over  the  heads  of  half  a  dozen 
older  men,  to  a  first-class  passenger  train.  By  these 
apparent  acts  of  bribery,  public  opinion  became  so 
biassed  against  the  company,  that  the  defendants' 
lawyer  easily  procured  an  acquittal,  which  threw  the 
responsibility  upon  the  company,  and  the  suits  for 
damages  which  ensued,  with  their  rapidly  accumulat 
ing  costs,  finally  bankrupted  it. 

About  a  week  after  I  left  the  hospital,  as  I  felt 
able  to  return  to  work,  I  resolved  to  apply  again  for 
a  fireman's  position,  knowing  that  a  vacancy  existed, 
owing  to  the  death  of  the  man  on  train  31.  I  called 
on  the  master  mechanic,  whom  I  found  alone  in  his 
office,  and  asked  respectfully  if  he  would  give  me 
the  vacant  place,  reminding  him  that  my  application 
had  been  on  file  for  some  time. 

He  was  writing,  and  without  even  looking  up  an 
swered  "  No,"  and  that  was  all  I  could  get  out  of  him, 


62       THE  GENERAL  MANAGER'S  STORY 

though  I  tried  to  find  out  why  he  wouldn't  appoint 
me,  and  when  I  might  expect  him  to  do  so.  Feeling 
deeply  disappointed,  and  not  a  little  hurt  at  the 
manner  of  my  reception,  I  walked  out,  and  strolled 
over  to  the  round-house,  to  have  a  look  at  the  en 
gines  which  had  all  at  once  become  so  unattainable 
to  me. 

I  had  taken  a  great  interest  in  the  engines.  It 
was  a  promotion,  a  step  higher,  to  which  I  had 
looked  forward  with  great  eagerness,  and  now  to 
have  all  my  hopes  dashed  at  once,  and  for  no  cause 
that  I  could  see,  was  very  discouraging. 

I  espied  Tom  Riley  at  work  on  his  engine  and 
stated  my  case  to  him,  asking  what  I  could  do  now 
that  the  master  mechanic  had  dashed  my  hopes.  I 
told  him  how  anxious  I  was  to  get  on  the  left  side 
of  the  locomotive,  and  begged  the  veteran  for  ad 
vice.  He  listened  to  my  tale  of  woe  patiently,  and 
appeared  interested.  When  I  finished,  he  said  :  — 

"  I'll  tell  you  where  you  made  the  mistake,  boy." 

" Where?"  said  I,  anxiously. 

"In  goin'  to  that  long,  starved-to-death,  white- 
livered  hound  of  a  master  mechanic,  an'  askin'  him 
for  anything.  Don't  ye  know  there's  only  one  thing 
he  delights  in  more  'n  another,  an'  that  is  hearin'  that 
a  man  wasn't  killed  in  a  wreck,  so  he  can  discharge 
him  when  he  gits  back  ?  I  tell  you,  boy,  you  have 
done  the  only  thing  you  could  do  to  please  him  to 
day,  an'  that  is,  you  gave  him  a  chance  to  refuse 
you  somethin' ;  but  'tain't  you  he's  pleased  with,  its 


A  RAILROAD  AUTOCRAT  63 

himself ;  so  his  pleasure  won't  do  you  no  good,  an' 
don't  you  delude  yerself  with  the  idee  that  'twill. 
Do  you  know  what  he's  doin'  now?  Wai,  I'll  tell 
you ;  he's  got  two  vacancies  to  fill :  one  is  that  of  the 
fireman  who  was  killed,  an'  the  other  the  engineer 
who  was  discharged  for  not  gittin'  killed;  an'  now 
he's  puzzlin'  his  brains  to  find  somebody  that  don't 
want  either  of  them  jobs,  but  that  is  in  his  power,  so 
he  can  make  'em  take  'em  agin  their  will.  If  you 
had  gone  into  his  office  this  mornin'  rippin'  an' 
ravin',  an'  said,  'See  here,  I've  heard  that  you  was 
agoin'  to  appoint  me  to  the  vacancy  caused  by  the 
death  of  Pete  Russell,  an'  I've  come  in  to  let  you 
know,  that  I  don't  want  it,  an'  won't  have  it  under 
no  consideration,  an'  I  wouldn't  work  in  your  depart 
ment  for  ten  dollars  a  day.'  If  you'd  talked  to  him 
like  that,  he  would  have  appointed  you,  an'  made 
you  take  it  too ;  but  now  of  course  it's  too  late.  The 
trouble  with  you  young  fellers  is,  that  you've  got  so 
much  infernal  conceit,  you  think  you  know  it  all,  so 
you  won't  ask  the  advice  of  an  old  fool  till  you  git 
stuck;  then  after  you've  made  a  complete  mess  of 
the  whole  business,  then  you  come  a  whinin'  an'  a 
cryin'  round,  an'  it's,  '  Oh,  Tom,  what  shall  I  do  now  ? ' 
Well,  I'll  tell  you,  the  only  thing  you  can  do  now  is 
to  go  to  the  super;  tell  him  jest  how  the  case  stands, 
an'  mebbe  he'll  make  the  master  mechanic  app'int 
ye,  an'  prob'ly  he  won't;  anyhow,  that's  your  only 
chance.  An'  say,  ye  can  tell  him  that  ye  are  recom 
mended  by  Mr.  Thomas  Riley,  Engineer,  if  ye  like." 


64       THE  GENERAL  MANAGER'S  STORY 

"  All  right,"  said  I,  and  thanking  the  old  man  for 
his  advice,  I  went  at  once  to  the  superintendent's 
office,  not,  however,  with  any  very  great  confidence 
in  the  success  of  my  errand;  for  I  had  been  long 
enough  at  the  business  now  to  know  that  there  was 
such  a  thing  as  official  courtesy  on  railroads,  and  I 
doubted  that  the  superintendent  would  order  the 
master  mechanic  to  appoint  me  against  his  will. 

I  was  bound,  however,  to  see  the  thing  through,  so 
I  walked  boldly  into  the  office,  and  inquired  for  the 
superintendent.  I  learned  that  he  was  in,  and  sat 
down  to  wait  the  gentleman's  pleasure.  A  good 
long  wait  I  had  of  it,  too;  several  times  he  came 
into  the  room  where  I  was,  but  he  was  evidently 
very  busy,  and  paid  no  attention  to  me.  Presently 
he  came  rushing  out  with  his  hat  on,  pulling  on  his 
coat  as  he  went,  and  his  exit  seemed  to  be  the  signal 
for  dinner;  for  all  the  clerks  bolted  immediately  in 
his  rear,  leaving  me  the  sole  occupant  of  the  office. 
I,  too,  went  home,  bolted  my  dinner  in  a  hurry,  and 
hastened  back,  fearing  to  miss  him  on  his  return ; 
for  it  is  an  old  saying  on  the  railroad,  that  the 
best  time  to  catch  a  boss  is  on  his  return  from  lunch, 
when  he  is  supposed  to  be  in  a  good  humor,  and 
more  apt  to  receive  a  petition  favorably  than  at  any 
other  time.  I  found  I  was  successful  so  far  as  that 
he  had  not  returned  before  me. 

I  sat  and  squirmed  in  discomfort  on  that  hard 
bench  until  after  three  o'clock;  then  he  came  bus 
tling  in,  and  as  usual  passed  me  by.  Tired  with  my 


A  RAILROAD  AUTOCRAT  65 

long  wait,  I  tiptoed  to  the  chief  clerk's  desk  and  asked 
in  a  whisper  if  he  thought  Mr.  Wilkes  would  see  me 
now.  "  What  do  you  want  with  him  ? "  said  he.  I  told 
him  I  was  seeking  a  fireman's  position  on  the  road. 
As  he  didn't  appear  to  have  anything  else  to  do,  he 
amused  himself  by  pumping  the  whole  story  out  of 
me,  and  then  coolly  told  me  he  didn't  think  the  super 
would  see  me  that  day,  as  he  was  very  busy.  I  had 
better  call  some  other  time.  His  offhand  way  of 
disposing  of  what  was  a  very  important  matter  to  me, 
roused  my  ire  to  such  an  extent  that  I  declined  to  act 
on  his  suggestion,  but,  on  the  contrary,  I  promised 
myself  that  I  would  see  and  speak  to  that  super,  even 
if  I  had  to  force  my  way  into  his  sanctum. 

It  was  nearly  five  o'clock  when  he  appeared, 
bound,  as  I  felt  sure,  for  home.  "Now  or  never," 
said  I,  and  I  stepped  up  to  the  gentleman,  asking  for 
a  few  minutes  of  his  valuable  time.  He  stopped 
short,  whirled  half-round,  pulled  out  an  old-fashioned 
silver  watch  with  a  jerk,  looked  at  it  abstractedly, 
for  a  moment,  and  then  asked  brusquely,  "Well, 
what  is  it?  Talk  quick  now;  I'm  in  a  hurry."  I 
stated  my  case  as  briefly  as  possible.  "  Well,  what 
do  you  want  me  to  do?  "  said  he. 

I  told  him  that  Mr.  Tom  Riley,  an  engineer,  had 
advised  me  to  see  him,  thinking,  perhaps,  he  might 
intercede  with  the  master  mechanic  in  my  behalf. 

"  Ever  railroad  any  ?  " 

"  Yes,  sir ;  nearly  two  years  on  this  road." 

"What  doing?" 

F 


66       THE  GENERAL  MANAGER'S  STORY 

"  Braking,  sir." 

"  When  did  you  quit  ?  " 

"  I  haven't  quit  at  all ;  I  was  braking  for  Simmons 
at  the  time  of  the  wreck,  and  have  just  come  from 
the  hospital." 

His  face  flushed  angrily,  as  he  replied,  "  The  h — 
you  were !  Well,  I  admire  your  gall ! "  Turning  to  the 
head  clerk,  he  added,  "  Mr.  Clark,  have  this  fellow's 
time  made  out,  and  hand  it  to  him,"  and  he  was 
off. 

"  Have  this  fellow's  time  made  out."  That  meant 
that  I  was  discharged,  and  in  Heaven's  name,  for 
what  ?  I  was  not  conscious  of  having  done  anything 
to  merit  such  harsh  treatment,  and  the  sudden  ver 
dict,  from  which  I  knew  there  was  no  appeal,  nearly 
floored  me.  It  was  a  new  experience,  and  as  unex 
pected  as  it  was  unwelcome.  It  was  some  time  before 
I  was  able  to  obtain  any  information  explaining  the 
super's  conduct;  at  last,  however,  a  brakeman  told 
me  that  I  had  been  discharged  ever  since  the  wreck, 
only,  having  been  in  hospital,  I  had  not  heard  of  it. 

"  So,"  said  he,  "  when  you  told  him  you  was  still 
on  the  road,  he  thought  you  had  come  up  to  the  of 
fice  to  have  a  little  fun  with  him,  and  it  made  him 
mad." 

Have  fun  with  the  superintendent  ?  Not  I.  I  had 
not  yet  reached  the  reckless  stage  of  the  hardened 
veteran  who  smokes  his  pipe  in  the  powder  magazine. 

I  asked  the  braky  why  I  should  be  discharged,  as 
I  had  no  hand  in  causing  the  wreck.  "  You  refused 


A  RAILROAD  AUTOCRAT  6/ 

to  swear  that  the  meet  and  pass  order  read  Brook- 
dale,  didn't  you  ? " 

"  Certainly ;  how  could  I  swear  when  I  didn't  know 
anything  about  it  ?  " 

"Well,  that's  your  misfortune,  my  boy;  if  you 
can't  swear  to  what  the  company  wants,  just  because 
you  don't  know,  you  must  expect  to  suffer  for  your 
lack  of  ability,"  saying  which,  he  left  me  with  the  air 
of  a  superior  being  who  had  kindly  shed  some  of  his 
superabundant  light  on  my  benighted  ignorance. 

After  the  first  shock  of  bitter  disappointment  I 
took  a  philosophical  view  of  the  situation.  It  was 
not,  after  all,  such  a  dreadful  thing  to  be  discharged. 
I  remembered  how  I  had  heard  the  men  frequently, 
in  relating  their  experiences,  laugh  heartily  at  old  So- 
and-so,  who  had  fired  them  for  accidents,  or  infraction 
of  rules,  as  though  it  was  a  joke.  I  could  now  travel, 
see  how  work  was  done  on  other  roads,  and  with  the 
swagger  of  an  old  hand  make  use  of  the  time-honored 
phrase,  "  where  I  come  from,"  that  somewhat  hazy 
and  indefinite  locality  where  everything  is  perfect,  in 
glittering  contrast  with  "this  road,"  which  is  "the 
worst  I  ever  saw." 

At  twelve  o'clock  that  night  I  boarded  a  Chicago- 
bound  freight  train,  for  I  was  determined  hereafter  to 
railroad  only  from  the  great  centre  itself.  The  crew 
of  the  train,  who  were  all  my  friends,  made  me  com 
fortable  in  the  caboose,  expressed  themselves  as  sorry 
to  see  me  going,  but  advised  me  to  keep  a  stiff  upper 
lip,  saying  that  I  would  have  no  trouble  getting  a  job 


68       THE  GENERAL  MANAGER'S  STORY 

in  Chicago,  where  experienced  railroad  men  were  al 
ways  in  demand  ;  for  at  that  time  the  country  was  not 
overrun  with  them,  as  it  is  now.  I  was  passed  along 
from  one  road  to  another,  my  transportation  costing 
me  nothing,  until  one  morning  bright  and  early  I 
landed  in  Chicago,  with  a  little  money  in  my  pocket, 
my  heart  as  light  as  a  feather,  strong,  confident,  and 
fearless,  and  I  set  out  in  search  of  that  which  so  many 
are  always  seeking  —  a  job.  I  determined  to  brake  no 
more.  I  would  only  try  for  a  fireman's  position,  and  to 
my  inexperience  it  seemed  that  I  would  only  have  to  let 
it  be  generally  known  that  I  was  ready  to  go  to  work, 
to  have  all  the  trunk  lines  contending  for  my  valuable 
services.  Undue  self-appreciation  is,  however,  easily 
corrected.  Before  looking  for  employment  I  did 
what  every  countryman  always  does, — took  in  the 
sights ;  and  as  I  remember  them  they  were  not  very 
wonderful,  therefore  they  filled  my  uncultivated  mind 
with  wonder. 

This  mild  dissipation  encroached  on  my  treasury 
to  such  an  extent  as  to  remind  me  that  my  visit  to 
the  metropolis  was  one  of  business,  and  not  pleasure; 
so  after  a  couple  of  days'  sight-seeing,  I  started  out  in 
earnest  to  find  employment. 

My  first  day's  catch  amounted  only  to  a  fine  assort 
ment  of  refusals,  the  second  was  a  repetition  of  the 
first,  and  I  began  to  realize  that  Chicago  would  have 
survived  some  time  without  my  presence  within  her 
borders. 

On  the  third  day  as  I  was  strolling  rather  listlessly 


A   RAILROAD   AUTOCRAT  69 

through  a  certain  round-house,  I  overheard  a  con 
versation  between  the  foreman  and  caller,  which  told 
me  that  there  was  a  fireman  wanted  in  a  hurry.  As 
I  was  now  at  that  stage  in  the  game  where  any  job 
was  a  good  job,  I  stepped  up  to  the  man  and  asked 
if  he  was  the  round-house  foreman.  He  said  he  was. 

"I'm  looking  for  a  job,  sir,"  said  I. 

"  Can  you  fire  ? " 

"Yes,  sir." 

"  Where  have  you  fired  ?" 

"On  the road." 

"All  right;  go  over  to  the  master  mechanic's  office 
and  ask  for  Mr.  Seely,  tell  him  Phelps  sent  you,  and 
if  he  hires  you,  come  right  back  to  me.  I  want  you 
to  go  out  on  that  engine  right  away.  Hurry  up,  now !  " 

"  All  right,  sir,"  said  I,  and  away  I  went  on  the 
run,  stealing  a  hasty  glance,  as  I  went,  at  the  engine 
standing  at  the  water-plug.  As  I  remember  her  now, 
she  was  a  common  enough  old  trap ;  but  I  thought 
then  that  she  was  a  masterpiece,  and  mentally  prayed 
that  I  might  be  hired,  and  appointed  to  preside  over 
the  scoop  and  tallow-pot  of  that  magnificent  road 
ster. 

My  business  with  the  head  of  the  mechanical  de 
partment  was  briefly  and  satisfactorily  settled,  and 
he  told  me  to  report  to  Phelps  at  once. 

Phelps  told  me  to  "  git  right  on  to  227 ;  there's  the 
oil-room,"  pointing  to  a  low,  dingy  structure.  "  Hurry 
up  now ;  git  yer  supplies,  an'  git  out  o'  here !  "  So 
I  was  hired. 


CHAPTER  VII 

HE     CATCHES    A     TARTAR  —  ALL     PREVIOUS     RECORDS 

BROKEN JOSEPH     H.    GRINNELL,    THE    OMNIPOTENT 

ENGINEER  DEFIANCE  HE      MAKES      FRIENDS  

HAULED    UPON    THE    CARPET DISCHARGED     AGAIN 

FRIENDS    IN    NEED PHELPS    IS    PLEASED HE 

"  WIPES  "     FOR     FIFTEEN     MONTHS  —  SQUARES     AC 
COUNTS   WITH   JOSEPH   H.    GRINNELL 

As  I  stepped  up  on  the  tender  and  opened  the  oil- 
box  to  get  the  cans,  the  most  disagreeable-looking 
face  that  I  ever  saw  presented  itself  at  the  opposite 
gangway,  and  a  thin,  squeaky  voice  called  out :  — 

"  Hey !  what  are  ye  up  to  ?    What  ye  doin'  there  ? " 

I  asked  him  if  he  was  the  engineer. 

"  Who  d'ye  s'pose  I  be,  ye  blamed  fool  ?  The  presi 
dent  of  the  road  ? " 

"No,"  said  I;  "I  thought  you  was  the  board  of 
directors." 

"  The  h — 11  you  did !  Well,  now  you  git  down  out 
o'  there,  and  direct  yourself  somewheres  else." 

"  Say,  Pap,"  said  I,  "  I  don't  know  nor  care  a  con 
tinental  who  you  are;  but  I'm  going  to  fire  this  en 
gine  to-night,  and  if  you  don't  like  it,  now  's  your  time 
to  kick." 

That  made  him  mad.  He  shoved  his  oil-can  and 
70 


CATCHES   A  TARTAR  71 

wrench  up  into  the  tender,  and  away  he  went  across 
the  yard  shouting,  "  Hey,  Phelps  !  "  But  Phelps  kept 
out  of  his  way.  When  I  got  back  from  the  oil-room, 
he  was  in  the  cab  waiting  for  me,  and  the  instant  I 
set  the  cans  upon  the  foot-board,  he  rang  the  bell 
and  gave  her  a  vicious  jerk  back;  but  I  had  climbed 
too  many  flying  freight  cars  to  be  disturbed  by  that. 
I  swung  myself  lightly  aboard,  and  gave  him  a  black 
look,  which  didn't  mend  matters  any ;  for  I  was  satis 
fied  that  he  was  a  crank,  and  that  it  would  be  poor 
policy  for  me  to  knuckle  too  much  to  him,  although 
in  those  days  a  locomotive  engineer  was  a  much  more 
important  functionary  than  he  is  now,  when  the 
woods  are  full  of  them. 

Well,  at  last  we  got  our  train  and  got  out  on  the 
road.  We  didn't  have  a  very  heavy  train,  and  I  was 
satisfied  that  I  could  keep  her  hot  without  any  trouble, 
and  so  I  could,  if  he  hadn't  worked  against  me  in 
every  way.  He  would  let  her  blow  all  her  steam  and 
water  away,  until  he  struck  a  heavy  grade,  and  then 
put  on  his  pump  full  head,  and  drown  her,  running 
the  steam  down  so  that  we  "  stalled "  and  had  to 
"  double"  up  every  little  hill,  and  thereby  "  laid  out " 
the  "fast  mail"  fifteen  minutes  —  an  unpardonable 
sin. 

He  also  "  dropped  her  down  a  notch  "  for  me,  so 
that  she  threw  a  constant  stream  of  sky-rockets  out 
of  her  stack,  and,  as  I  told  the  master  mechanic  when 
he  had  me  on  the  carpet  the  next  day,  a  steam  shovel 
couldn't  have  kept  coal  in  her  that  night. 


72       THE  GENERAL  MANAGER'S  STORY 

Consequently  we  ran  out  of  fuel  before  reaching 
the  end  of  the  division,  and  had  to  stop  at  the  freight 
coaling-station  and  coal  up  —  a  thing  that  had  never 
happened  to  that  train  before. 

That  was  a  tough  run  for  me,  and  I  found  out  the 
reason  for  it  afterwards.  Old  Joe  had  powerful  in 
fluence  in  high  quarters,  which  made  him,  to  a  cer 
tain  extent,  independent  of  the  master  mechanic,  so 
that  he  did  pretty  much  as  he  pleased,  and,  being  of 
a  low,  mean  disposition,  he  pleased  to  abuse  everybody 
who  came  in  his  way ;  and  as  nobody  came  so  much 
in  his  way  as  his  fireman,  he  made  it  so  disagreeable 
for  that  unfortunate,  that  several  of  them  had  left  the 
road  to  get  away  from  him,  and  he  had  got  several 
others  discharged. 

When  I,  a  perfect  stranger,  gave  him  "sass,"  he 
knew  that  he  could  lay  out  the  whole  road  safely  by 
blaming  it  on  me,  as  it  would  hardly  pay  the  master 
mechanic  to  say  anything  to  him. 

All  the  firemen  feared  him,  and  he  knew  it ;  so,  on 
this  particular  occasion,  when  it  became  known  that 
Joe's  fireman  was  sick,  all  the  others  made  it  a  point 
to  be  away  from  home  when  the  caller  made  his 
rounds  with  orders  to  call  the  first  man  he  found  off 
duty. 

It  was  to  this  combination  of  circumstances  that  I 
owed  my  job — such  as  it  was.  For  the  first  time 
in  his  life,  I  suppose,  he  got  a  fireman  who  had  the 
audacity  to  talk  back  to  him  —  to  him,  Joseph  H. 
Grinnell.  Who  ever  heard  of  such  a  thing?  Is  it 


CATCHES  A  TARTAR  73 

any  wonder  that  he  determined  to  cut  short  my  career 
on  that  road  ? 

The  first  time  she  "dropped  her  bundle,"  —  which 
occurred  less  than  half  way  up  the  first  hill,  and 
before  we  had  gone  five  miles  on  our  way,  —  he  shut 
her  off,  slammed  the  reverse  lever  down  in  the  cor 
ner  with  a  bang,  and,  folding  his  arms,  leaned  back 
in  his  seat,  and  ripped  out  the  most  horrible  string  of 
profanity  I  ever  heard,  every  word  of  which  was  a 
curse  at  me  personally. 

I,  being  a  stranger  on  the  road,  and  not  having  the 
fear  of  old  Joe's  displeasure  properly  engrafted  on  my 
mind,  waited  until  he  got  through;  then,  stepping  over 
to  his  side,  I  grabbed  him  roughly  by  the  shoulder,  and 
twisting  him  half  round  on  his  seat,  I  said  :  — 

"  See  here,  you  foul-mouthed  old  beast,  I've  got 
something  to  say  to  you  now.  In  the  first  place,  it's 
your  fault  and  not  mine  that  we're  stalled  here, 
because  you  don't  know  your  business  a  little  bit ; 
where  I  came  from  they  wouldn't  give  you  a  job 
wheeling  ashes  out  to  the  dump ;  and  now  one  thing 
more,  if  you  open  your  head  to  me  again  while  I  am 
on  this  engine,  to  say  one  word,  good,  bad,  or  indif 
ferent,  I'll  split  you  wide  open  with  this  shovel,  and 
if  you  have  any  doubt  about  it,  you  can  satisfy  your 
self  right  away." 

He  didn't  say  another  word  to  me ;  but  as  I  said 
before,  the  trip  was  a  record-breaker.  We  got  to  the 
end  of  the  division  nine  hours  late,  had  four  hours  lay 
over,  and  returned,  repeating  the  performance  even 


74       THE  GENERAL  MANAGER'S  STORY 

worse  than  on  the  up  trip ;  for,  as  part  of  this  run 
occurred  during  the  forenoon,  when  the  inward-bound 
passenger  trains  were  thick  on  the  road,  he  managed 
to  lay  out  three  of  them. 

Before  we  started  on  the  return  trip,  the  conductor 
came  up  to  the  engine  while  I  was  taking  water,  and 
said,  — 

"  Say,  young  feller,  the  head  braky  tells  me  that 
you  set  old  Joe's  packin'  out  for  him  in  mighty 
good  shape  last  night.  Is  that  so  ? " 

"  Oh,  I  don't  know,"  said  I.     "  Why  ? " 

"  Why  ?  Well,  I'll  tell  you  why  :  because  if  you 
did,  you've  made  a  friend  of  every  man  on  the  division 
except  Joe  himself ;  and  as  you  couldn't  make  a  friend 
of  him  anyway,  that's  no  loss.  But,  of  course,  I 
s'pose  you  know  you're  discharged  ;  no  man  could  lay 
the  whole  road  out  the  way  you  did  and  go  out  again. 
But  don't  you  be  in  any  hurry  to  leave  town ;  for 
maybe  some  of  us  can  do  something  for  you,  and, 
at  any  rate,  if  you  ever  want  any  assistance  from 
anybody  on  this  road,  all  you've  got  to  do  is  to  say 
that  you  are  the  man  that  made  old  Joe  Grinnell  take 
water,  and  the  boys  won't  be  able  to  do  enough  for 
you." 

When  we  got  back,  we  both  got  off  the  engine,  and 
found  the  round-house  foreman  waiting  for  us.  He 
said  the  master  mechanic  wanted  to  see  us  both  in 
the  office  at  once,  so  in  we  went  and  reported  our 
selves. 

"  Well,  Mr.  Grinnell,"  said  the  master  mechanic, 


CATCHES  A  TARTAR  75 

"  I  have  a  report  here  from  the  division  superinten 
dent,  in  which  he  informs  me  that  the  road  wasn't 
big  enough  for  the  227  last  trip.  What  was  the 
matter  with  her  ? " 

"Nawthin',"  said  Grinnell. 

"  Nothing  ?  What  do  you  mean  by  that  ?  Some 
thing  must  have  been  the  matter." 

"Yes,  somethin'  was  the  matter,  an'  a  d — d  sight 
the  matter  too.  Look  here,  Mr.  Seely,  I  want  you  to 
understand  that  the  227  is  a  first-class  engine  in  every 
respect,  an*  that  I'm  a  first-class  engineer ;  but  Phelps 
has  got  a  notion  of  fishin'  up  all  sorts  of  canallers, 
an'  truck-drivers,  an*  sendin'  'em  out  to  fire  for  me, 
an*  I'm  jist  about  sick  of  it,  'n'  don't  want  no  more." 

"  Do  you  mean  to  tell  me,  then,  that  you  laid  out 
the  whole  road  just  because  the  fireman  didn't  suit 
you?" 

"No,  I  don't.  What  I  mean  to  say  is,  that  I 
didn't  hev  no  fireman ;  only  a  cowboy  that  never 
fired  an  engine  before,  an'  threatened  to  split  me 
wide  open  with  the  scoop  jest  because  I  told  him 
he'd  hev  to  keep  her  hot,  or  we'd  never  git  there." 

"Did  you  threaten  Mr.  Grinnell?"  said  Mr.  Seely 
to  me. 

"  Yes,  sir,"  said  I. 

"  Oho  !  you  did,  hey  ?  Is  that  the  way  firemen  talk 
to  their  engineers  where  you  came  from  ? " 

"  No,  sir,"  said  I.  "  But  our  engineers  were  men, 
while  this  old  brute  is  a  —  " 

"  There  !  there !  that  will   do.     I  don't  want  any 


76  THE  GENERAL  MANAGER'S  STORY 

quarrelling  in  my  office ;  you  can  call  in  to-morrow 
and  get  your  time." 

So  here  I  was  discharged  again.  It  was  very  dis 
couraging,  but  then  I  could  expect  nothing  else,  for 
Joe  was  an  old  engineer  on  the  road,  and  I  was  what  ? 
Merely  a  straggler  that  had  been  picked  up  in  an 
emergency. 

Right  here  is  as  good  a  place  as  any  to  make  a  few 
remarks  concerning  the  relations  existing  between 
engineers  and  firemen,  also  in  regard  to  the  status  of 
the  fireman  himself. 

No  fireman  can  keep  an  engine  "hot,"  except  with 
the  strictest  cooperation  on  the  part  of  the  engineer. 
In  order  that  the  engine  shall  steam,  it  is  imperative 
that  the  engineer  shall  cut  his  steam  off  as  short  as 
possible,  and  run  his  pump  according  to  certain  rules 
well  known  to  the  fraternity.  In  other  words,  it  is 
no  trouble  at  all  to  the  engineer  to  "  knock  out "  the 
best  fireman  that  ever  handled  a  shovel. 

Did  you  ever  see  the  fireman  of  any  train  that  you 
ever  rode  on?  Probably  not.  You  frequently  see 
the  engineer,  and  always  the  conductor  and  brake- 
men  ;  but  the  fireman  is  seldom  seen,  and  never 
heard  of,  except  when  he  gets  killed  or  hurt  in  a 
wreck ;  and  yet  in  some  respects  he  is  the  most 
important  man  on  the  train. 

Not  only  do  all  engineers  invariably  depend  on 
him  to  perform  many  of  the  duties  properly  belong 
ing  to  themselves,  but  he  it  is  who  bends  his  back, 
and  hustles  to  make  steam  to  get  the  train  in  on 


CATCHES  A  TARTAR  77 

time,  frequently  with  miserable  fuel  and  an  engine 
that  ought  to  be  in  the  scrap-heap.  When  time  is 
lost  for  the  want  of  steam,  it  is  on  the  fireman's 
devoted  head  that  the  wrath  of  the  engineer,  master 
mechanic,  and  superintendent  falls ;  no  excuse  being 
accepted,  even  though  it  be  evident  to  anybody  that 
the  coal  is  70  per  cent  slate,  and  the  valves  and 
pistons  blow  like  sieves. 

Though  all  the  train-despatchers,  brass-bound  con 
ductors,  and  engineers  do  their  level  best,  no  train 
can  make  time  or  break  a  record  unless  the  grimy, 
unheard  of,  and  unthought-about  fireman,  down  there 
in  his  black  hole,  knows  his  business,  and  does  it. 

Yet  no  praise  comes  to  him  for  the  good  run, 
though  he  is  the  one  man  on  the  train  who  has 
labored  and  sweated  to  make  it,  and  to  whose  skill 
and  knowledge  it  is  largely  due. 

Well,  there  was  no  use  crying  over  spilt  milk,  so 
I  went  to  the  round-house,  washed  up,  and  then  went 
to  get  something  to  eat.  I  ran  across  the  conductor, 
who  was  bound  on  the  same  errand,  and  told  him 
what  had  occurred  in  the  master  mechanic's  office, 
and  also  gave  him  a  short  account  of  myself.  I 
found  that  he  knew  my  former  conductor,  and  had 
heard  of  the  wreck  which  was  the  cause  of  all  of 
us  getting  discharged.  He  was  quite  friendly  and 
invited  me  to  sleep  in  his  caboose  during  its  stay  at 
that  end  of  the  division,  and  get  acquainted  with  the 
boys.  "  For,"  said  he,  "  railroad  men  when  looking 
for  a  job  are  not  apt  to  be  very  rich,  and  there's  no 


78       THE  GENERAL  MANAGER'S  STORY 

use  of  paying  for  lodgings  while  the  yard  is  half  full 
of  cabooses." 

I  accepted  his  invitation  thankfully  and  found  that 
I  was  quite  a  hero.  The  men  took  delight  in  intro 
ducing  me  as  the  fellow  who  had  bearded  old  Joe  in 
his  cab,  and  yet  survived  to  tell  the  tale. 

They  also  liked  to  hear  me  tell  of  my  experience 
in  what  is  still  remembered  by  old  railroaders  as  the 
Brookdale  disaster. 

The  result  of  their  hospitality  was,  that  three  days 
passed  before  I  returned  to  the  master  mechanic's 
office  for  the  bill  of  my  time.  On  leaving  the  office 
I  ran  across  Mr.  Phelps,  who  asked  me  to  accompany 
him  to  the  round-house.  He  took  me  away  round 
out  of  sight  and  hearing,  behind  a  big  freight  engine, 
and  asked  what  was  the  trouble  between  Grinnell 
and  me. 

I  told  him  all  that  happened  on  the  trip,  but  before 
I  got  through  he  said,  "  Never  mind  all  that ;  I  want 
to  know  what  it  was  that  you  said  to  him." 

When  I  told  him,  a  broad  smile  spread  over  his 
face,  as  he  asked, — 

"  Did  you  tell  him  that  ? " 

"Yes,  sir,"  said  I. 

"What  did  he  say?" 

"  Not  a  word  to  me  from  that  time  to  this." 

"  Haw  !  haw  !  haw !  by  George,  that's  good  ! "  And 
he  leaned  up  against  the  tender  and  laughed,  and 
slapped  himself  till  the  dust  flew  out  of  his  overalls 
in  clouds. 


CATCHES  A  TARTAR  79 

"I'd  have  been  willin'  to  lose  a  month's  pay  to 
have  seen  ole  Joe  then,"  said  he.  "  Say,  young  feller, 
I  can't  give  you  a  job  firm'  just  yet ;  Joe's  queered 
you  for  a  bit,  but  I'll  tell  you  what  I'll  do.  I'll  set 
you  to  wipin',  an'  give  you  the  first  chance.  What 
do  you  say  ? " 

"  How  long  will  it  be  before  you  can  give  me  a  job 
firing  ? "  said  I. 

"  Oh !  I  can't  tell  that ;  nobody  can.  Maybe  in 
thirty  days,  maybe  in  six  months ;  but  you're  sure  of 
a  job  sooner  or  later,  an'  in  the  meantime  you  can 
git  acquainted  with  the  men  an'  engines,  an'  that's 
better  than  to  start  in  somewhere  bran  new  and  git 
dumped  again,  ain't  it  ? " 

I  told  him  I  thought  it  might  be  in  some  respects ; 
still  I  didn't  care  to  wipe  engines,  as  that  is  the  very 
lowest  rung  in  the  ladder,  besides  being  extremely 
dirty  and  disagreeable  work. 

He  assured  me,  however,  that  both  the  master 
mechanic  and  himself,  as  well  as  nearly  all  the 
engineers  on  the  road,  had  begun  as  wipers.  He 
said  that  was  the  proper  way  for  a  man  to  learn  any 
trade,  to  begin  at  the  bottom ;  and  in  fine,  he  said  so 
much,  and  seemed  so  anxious  to  have  me  take  the 
job,  that  I  accepted,  and  have  never  regretted  it  to 
this  day. 

For  fifteen  months  I  wiped  engines,  turned  the 
table,  shoveled  ashes,  washed  out  boilers  and  tanks, 
helped  the  machinists  to  lug  and  lift,  and  in  fact  did 
all  manner  of  the  dirtiest  and  hardest  work  that  has 


8O       THE  GENERAL  MANAGER'S  STORY 

to  be  done  about  a  railroad  round-house.  For  the 
wipers  are  everybody's  helpers.  Is  a  particularly 
hard  job  to  be  done,  get  one  of  the  wipers  to  do  it ;  if 
a  sewer  gets  clogged,  send  a  wiper  in  to  clear  it ;  and 
who  ever  heard  of  a  wiper  complaining  ?  They  seem 
to  glory  in  and  thrive  on  dirt. 

During  those  fifteen  months  I  became,  from  con 
stant  association,  perfectly  familiar  with  all  the  out 
ward  and  visible  parts  of  the  locomotive,  and  I  saw 
them  taken  to  pieces  by  the  mechanics,  and  as  I  was 
blessed  with  a  good-sized  bump  of  inquisitiveness,  I 
also  learned  enough  of  the  mysterious  properties  of 
the  slide  valve  to  enable  me  to  take  part  in  the 
deeply  erudite  discussions  which  frequently  took 
place  among  the  firemen.  I  became  —  in  my  own 
opinion,  at  any  rate  —  an  authority  on  "lap"  and 
"lead,"  "compression,"  "expansion,"  and  "cut  off." 

There  is  no  other  way  in  which  a  green  man  can 
learn  so  well  and  so  thoroughly  every  detail  of  the 
machine,  as  he  can  by  going  over  it  daily,  wiping  all 
its  parts  carefully,  and  observing  what  each  one  is  for. 

The  wipers  are  severe  critics  of  the  engineers ; 
they  know  whose  engine  is  always  in  first-class  order, 
nuts  and  bolts  all  in  place  and  tight,  wedges  never 
down,  and  everything  where  it  ought  to  be. 

It  seemed  as  if  some  engineers  depended  on  the 
wipers  to  look  out  for  broken  spring  leaves  and 
hangers,  cracked  equalizers  and  eccentric  straps,  and 
nearly  everything  else ;  but  there  were  some  who 
looked  their  engines  over  with  the  greatest  care,  and 


CATCHES   A  TARTAR  8 1 

one  of  these  was  old  Joe  Grinnell.  He  didn't  want 
any  help  from  anybody,  and  was  quite  free  in  saying 
so,  too ;  but  I  was  lucky  enough  to  discover  some 
thing  that  he  had  missed  one  day,  and  it  did  me  a 
world  of  good. 

He  couldn't  help  seeing  me  about  the  round-house, 
as  I  was  nearly  always  at  work  on  his  engine  when 
he  came  to  get  her  ready,  and  see  that  the  repairs  he 
had  reported  were  done  properly  before  going  out, 
but  he  never  took  the  slightest  notice  of  me.  I  was 
too  far  beneath  him  to  be  even  worth  d — ing. 

The  engine  truck  was  a  part  that  was  assigned  to 
me  to  wipe,  and  one  day  I  noticed  that  the  male  cen 
tre  casting  was  broken  in  such  a  way  that  but  one 
bolt  held  it  at  all,  and  that  very  slightly.  I  supposed, 
of  course,  that  he  had  reported  it,  and  expected  every 
minute  to  see  the  men  come  along  with  the  jacks  and 
jack  her  up  to  put  in  a  new  one ;  for  though  there  is 
a  king-pin  down  through  both  castings,  still  no  man 
would  ever  trust  to  that  alone,  for  she  would  be  apt, 
in  rounding  some  curve,  to  shear  it  off,  and,  shooting 
off  at  a  tangent,  leave  the  track. 

What  was  my  surprise,  then,  as  the  time  drew  near 
for  her  to  leave  the  house,  to  see  that  no  attempt  was 
made  to  repair  the  damage,  until  at  last  the  hostler 
took  her  out  across  the  table.  I  had  been  long 
enough  in  the  round-house  now  to  get  the  hang  of 
things  pretty  well,  so  I  hunted  up  Mr.  Phelps  and 
told  him  what  I  had  discovered  on  the  227. 

"  Is  that  so  ? "  said  he  ;  "  are  you  sure  ? " 
G 


82       THE  GENERAL  MANAGER'S  STORY 

"Yes,  sir,"  said  I ;  "there's  no  doubt  about  it." 

We  walked  rapidly  round  the  house  and  came  to 
the  hook  on  which  the  machinists  hang  the  engineers' 
work  reports  after  finishing  the  job  and  marking  them 
O.  K. 

He  hunted  the  hook  over  until  he  found  the  227*5 
report  signed,  Grinnell,  O.  K'd.,  and  signed  by  the 
man  who  had  done  the  work.  There  were  several 
little  petty  jobs  reported,  but  not  a  word  about  the 
centre  casting. 

Mr.  Phelps'  eyes  sparkled  with  pleasure,  as  he  saw 
that  old  Joe  had  tripped  at  last. 

"D — n  him,"  said  he;  "if  there  was  only  him  to 
think  of,  I'd  let  him  go,  —  'twould  be  an  almighty  good 
way  to  git  rid  of  him ;  but  there  are  good  men  who 
would  have  to  suffer  too." 

From  where  we  stood  we  could  see  Joe  oiling 
around ;  no  time  was  to  be  lost,  for  we  didn't  want 
him  to  discover  it,  though,  even  if  he  did,  it  would  be 
too  late  now  to  save  himself  from  censure  —  still  we 
desired  to  catch  him  as  foul  as  possible. 

Turning  to  me,  Mr.  Phelps  said,  "  I'll  get  the  old 
man  out,  an'  walk  him  past  the  engine,  an'  you  be 
close  by,  an'  just  as  we  get  to  Joe,  you  tell  him  his 
centre  castin's  broke." 

"All  right,  sir,"  said  I,  and  away  he  went  post 
haste  after  the  master  mechanic,  while  I  sauntered 
out  in  the  direction  of  the  227. 

Joe  was  oiling  his  engine  truck  boxes,  and  I  was 
in  a  flutter,  for  fear  he  might  look  underneath  and 


"  '  Mr.  Grinnell,  your  engine  truck  centre  casting  is  broken 
all  to  pieces.'  "  — p.  83. 


CATCHES  A  TARTAR  83 

discover  it  for  himself ;  but  fortunately  another  engi 
neer  came  along  just  then  and  engaged  him  in  con 
versation,  thereby  distracting  his  attention. 

Directly  I  saw  Mr.  Seely  and  Mr.  Phelps  coming 
rapidly  in  our  direction  from  the  office,  I  got  within 
about  ten  feet  of  old  Joe,  and  just  as  they  were  pass 
ing,  called  out  loud  enough  for  everybody  to  hear : 

"  Mr.  Grinnell,  your  engine  truck  centre  casting  is 
broken  all  to  pieces,  and  just  about  ready  to  fall  off." 

Joe's  face  was  like  a  thunder-cloud  as  he  told  me 
to  mind  my  own  d — d  business,  if  I  had  any. 

The  officials  had  heard  my  report,  and  stopping 
short,  Mr.  Seely  asked  Joe  what  was  the  matter  with 
his  centre  casting. 

"  Nawthin',' '  said  Joe ;  "  only  this  wiper's  found  a 
mare's  nest.  I  guess  I'm  competent  to  look  after 
my  own  engine  without  any  help  from  the  wipers." 

Mr.  Seely,  however,  looked  under  the  engine  him 
self,  and  seeing  that  I  was  right,  ordered  her  back 
into  the  house,  and  a  spare  engine  got  ready  in  a 
hurry,  and  then  he  read  the  riot  act  to  Mr.  Joseph 
H.  Grinnell  in  a  manner  that  the  oldest  "plug- 
puller"  on  the  road  had  never  heard  equalled. 

He  told  him  that  he  was  the  most  ignorant,  use 
less,  and  conceited  fool  he  had  ever  seen ;  he  told 
him  he  was  neither  an  engineer,  a  man,  mouse, 
monkey,  nor  anything  else.  He  said  it  was  only  his 
influence  at  headquarters,  and  not  his  ability,  that 
had  caused  the  road  to  be  cumbered  with  his  useless 
carcass  so  long  as  it  had. 


84  THE  GENERAL  MANAGER'S  STORY 

At  first  Joe  answered  back  pretty  stiffly,  but  as  he 
knew  he  was  dead  wrong,  he  couldn't  say  much. 

The  old  man  had  him  just  where  he  had  wanted  to 
get  him  for  years,  and  he  did  him  up  brown. 

The  engineers,  firemen,  wipers,  and  in  fact  every 
body  about  the  place,  came  running  from  all  direc 
tions  to  help  hear  old  Joe  get  his  tongue-lashing. 
The  downfall  of  that  old  brute  was  most  gorgeous, 
and  satisfactory  to  everybody  —  except  Joe. 

As  a  grand  finale,  the  old  man,  after  calling  him 
everything  but  a  "first-class  engineer,"  sent  him 
home  for  ten  days,  charged  with  incompetency. 

After  that  Mr.  Joseph  could  seldom  go  near  the 
round-house  without  hearing  from  behind  some  far- 
off  engine  the  derisive  cry  of  "centre  casting," 
"mare's  nest,"  "wipers'  reports,"  or  something 
equally  suggestive  of  the  day  when  he  got  what  he 
had  been  so  long  aching  for. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

CUTTING  A  CONDUCTOR  IN  TWO  —  FIRING  FOR  "  POUND 
ERS  " OLD  POP  FICKETT  —  A  LEAP  FOR  LIFE  — 

PHEW  !  —  PROMOTED  TO  THE  LEFT  SIDE  —  DIS 
CHARGED  —  APPEAL  TO  HEADQUARTERS 

THE  next  morning  when  I  came  to  work,  Mr. 
Phelps  told  me  to  go  home  again,  and  return  at  6  P.M. 
to  relieve  a  fireman  on  one  of  the  switch  engines. 
My  wiping  days  were  now  over,  and  once  more  I 
found  myself  on  the  left  side  of  a  locomotive.  Dur 
ing  those  fifteen  months  of  wiping  I  had  come  to 
regard  the  fireman's  position  as  being  little  less  un 
attainable  than  the  president's ;  so  having  earned  my 
job,  I  appreciated  it,  and  felt  all  the  pride  of  owner 
ship  as  I  stepped  on  to  the  foot-board  of  that  old 
switch  engine. 

I  took  an  immediate  and  fierce  hold  of  the  brass 
work,  for  I  was  determined  to  have  the  cleanest 
engine  in  the  yard ;  but  when  the  engineer  saw  what 
I  was  about,  he  said :  "  Say !  ye  d — d  fool,  what 
ye  tryin'  ter  do?  this  ain't  no  cannon-ball  engine. 
Set  down  there  'n'  watch  out  fer  signals  ! "  Being 
extremely  sensitive  to  ridicule,  the  jeering  tone  in 
which  he  spoke  was  like  a  cold  douche  to  my  ardent 
ambition,  and  I  very  soon  learned  to  content  myself 

85 


86       THE  GENERAL  MANAGER'S  STORY 

with  the  regular  routine  work,  without  attempting  to 
introduce  radical  reforms  into  the  yard  engine  ser 
vice.  On  the  second  day,  the  engineer  asked  me  if 
I  thought  I  could  handle  her.  I  said,  I  guessed  so, 
and  stepping  out  from  alongside  the  boiler,  he  said, 
"  All  right,  then  ;  get  hold  o'  this  bat,  an'  let's  see  ye 
shape  yerself." 

I  was  somewhat  nervous  at  first.  It  startled  me 
to  feel  her  go  the  instant  that  I  touched  the  throttle, 
and  though  I  knew  perfectly  how  she  ought  to  be 
handled,  yet  I  found  it  confusing  when  I  came  to 
do  it  myself.  The  throttle,  reverse  lever,  and  brake 
seemed  to  be  in  each  other's  way,  and  I  couldn't  find 
them  with  my  hands  without  looking  for  them  —  an 
act  that  is  rankly  unprofessional.  Then  again,  I  would 
catch  myself  just  in  the  act  of  giving  her  steam, 
when  I  should  have  reversed  her  first,  calling  forth 
profane  and  jeering  remarks  from  the  engineer,  which 
were  extremely  mortifying.  The  engineer  stayed  with 
me  about  an  hour,  watching  me  sharply,  and  giving 
me  lots  of  advice.  I  took  it  as  I  was  in  duty  bound ; 
but  as  it  was  none  of  it  news  to  me,  I  paid  but  little 
attention,  resolving  that  if  I  ever  had  the  chance  I 
would  do  these  things  to  suit  myself ;  but,  of  course, 
I  didn't  dare  let  him  know  that.  I  soon  gained  con 
fidence,  and  as  I  kept  a  sharp  lookout  for  signals, 
and  obeyed  them  promptly,  the  engineer  —  satisfied 
that  I  could  do  the  work — stepped  off  and  went  into 
the  yard-master's  office  to  "chin."  He  had  not  been 
off  the  engine  ten  minutes  when  I  cut  the  conductor 


PROMOTED  TO  THE  LEFT  SIDE  8? 

in  two;  or,  rather,  he  was  accidentally  cut  in  two, 
partly  owing  to  his  own  fault. 

He  undertook  to  make  a  "  double  cut,"  that  is,  to 
cut  off  two  sections  of  the  moving  train,  and  send 
each  into  its  own  proper  switch  without  stopping. 
When  properly  done,  it  is  a  neat  manoeuvre,  and  a 
great  time-saver.  There  should  be  a  man  at  each 
switch  —  one  to  pull  the  pin,  and  one  to  watch  the 
performance  and  give  signals  to  the  engineer.  The 
pin  may  be  pulled  on  the  first  section  before  com 
mencing  to  back,  then  the  pin-puller  stands  by  to 
make  the  second  cut.  The  engine  starts  back  until 
there  is  way  enough  on  the  first  cut  to  carry  it  into 
its  switch ;  then  at  a  signal  the  engineer  shuts  off, 
and  the  dead  engine  acting  as  a  drag  holds  back 
the  main  part  of  the  train,  while  the  cut-off  cars 
roll  on  ahead  to  their  switch,  which  the  man  who  is 
stationed  there  opens,  allowing  them  to  run  in,  and 
closes  it  after  them.  The  engineer,  on  signal,  now 
gives  her  another  jerk  back,  the  pin-puller  pulls  the 
pin,  and  when  there  is  way  enough  on  the  second 
cut  to  carry  it  to  its  destination,  the  same  perform 
ance  is  gone  through  with  again,  this  time  the  whole 
of  the  remaining  train  and  engine  passing  over  the 
closed  switch  to  its  destination  further  up  the  yard. 

With  men  enough  —  provided  there  is  no  grade  to 
stop  the  cars  from  rolling  —  cars  could  be  sent  into 
all  the  switches  along  the  line,  without  the  engine 
stopping  at  all ;  but  in  this  case  the  conductor  only 
had  one  man,  and  when  he  told  him  what  he  in- 


88  THE  GENERAL  MANAGER'S  STORY 

tended  to  do,  the  brakey  remonstrated,  saying:  "Ye'll 
have  them  all  over  the  d — d  carpet."  The  conductor, 
however,  told  him  to  mind  his  own  business,  and  do 
as  he  was  ordered.  As  it  turned  out,  the  brakey  was 
right ;  for  he  did  spread  them  all  over  the  carpet,  and 
lost  his  life  besides.  He  told  the  brakeman  to  open 
the  first  switch,  and  then  run  to  the  next,  saying  that 
he  would  close  it  himself  after  pulling  the  pin.  But 
when  he  ran  in  a  hurry  to  close  it,  he  stumbled  over 
the  end  of  a  tie,  so  that  before  he  got  it  closed,  the 
forward  truck  of  the  leading  car  had  entered  the 
siding,  and  the  switch  being  closed  the  cars  went  off 
the  track.  Seeing  them  going  in  all  directions,  he 
desired  to  set  a  brake  to  hold  them  when,  in  jump 
ing  up  between  two  flat  cars,  one  corner  rose  above 
the  other,  and  shearing  across  it  clipped  him  in  two, 
as  a  lady  snips  a  thread  with  her  scissors. 

The  engineer  was  discharged  for  allowing  me  to 
handle  the  engine,  and  for  many  a  night  after  that 
I  saw  the  poor  man  in  my  dreams.  He  had  been 
looking  straight  in  my  eyes,  when  his  light  went  out. 

I  fired  nearly  four  years ;  and  though  firing  is  the 
hardest  kind  of  work,  I  look  back  to  those  four  years 
as  the  happiest  of  my  life. 

I  never  came  across  quite  such  another  crank  as 
old  Joe  Grinnell,  for  as  a  rule  the  engineers  were 
fine  fellows.  Every  man  jack  of  them,  having  served 
his  apprenticeship  at  the  scoopshovel,  realized  the 
drawbacks  and  discomforts  of  the  fireman's  position, 
and  tried  to  make  it  as  endurable  as  possible. 


PROMOTED  TO  THE  LEFT  SIDE  89 

Some,  while  meaning  well,  had  failed  during  their 
apprenticeship  to  learn  from  their  engineers  how  to 
run  and  feed  (pump)  the  machine  to  the  best  advan 
tage,  so  they  made  hard  work  for  the  fireman  to  keep 
steam.  Those  we  called  "  pounders,"  and  as  a  rule 
they  were  the  very  ones  who  would  take  no  hints 
from  their  firemen,  but  instantly  became  dignified 
and  talked  loftily  about  how  /  pump  and  run  my 
engine. 

Shortly  after  I  was  appointed,  I  was  sent  to  fire 
for  old  Pop  Fickett.  He  was  a  jolly  old  soul,  easy 
going  as  an  old  shoe,  and  would  often  on  a  cold  night 
get  down  and  fire  himself  for  a  dozen  or  twenty  miles 
to  get  warm,  while  I  sat  on  his  seat  and  played 
engineer,  blowing  for  crossings,  and  watching  the 
water. 

Old  Pop  was  a  hard  man  to  fire  for,  because  he  was 
a  pounder ;  but  I  hadn't  been  long  enough  at  the 
business  to  know  that,  so  I  shovelled  away  for  dear 
life  and  was  ignorant  and  happy. 

One  trip  Pop  reported  sick,  and  an  extra  engineer 
took  her  out.  As  a  rule,  firemen  hate  to  see  an 
extra  man  get  on  the  engine,  as  he  has  different 
ways  from  the  man  you  are  used  to,  and  railroad  men 
of  all  degrees  get  set  in  their  ways  and  don't  like  to 
have  them  disturbed. 

This  extra  man,  however,  was  a  genuine  and 
pleasant  surprise  to  me.  With  old  Pop  at  the  throt 
tle  I  always  had  to  bend  my  back  as  soon  as  he 
pulled  her  out  and  keep  the  shovel  and  the  firebox 


QO       THE  GENERAL  MANAGER'S  STORY 

door  on  the  swing  as  regular  as  the  pendulum  of 
a  clock. 

No  need  to  hook  the  fire ;  for  as  Pop  said,  he'd 
keep  it  from  freezing  up  on  me,  and  so  he  did  too ; 
for  I  wouldn't  have  a  chance  to  stop  shovelling  until 
he  shut  her  off.  No  need  to  worry  myself  by  look 
ing  at  the  steam-gauge;  for  as  Pop  said  again,  he 
could  take  care  of  all  the  steam  I  could  make. 

There  were  two  coaling  stations  on  the  division, 
each  about  twenty  miles  from  either  terminus,  for  the 
convenience  of  engines  that  needed  more  coal  to  take 
them  in.  We  never  passed  them, — indeed,  we  some 
times  had  trouble  to  reach  them,  —  although  Pop 
had  sideboards  put  on  the  tender,  saying  he  liked  to 
have  plenty  of  coal ;  and  when  other  engineers 
bragged  about  how  many  water-plugs  they  passed, 
and  how  many  cars  they  hauled  without  taking  coal, 
Pop  would  remark  sagely  that  "  he  allus  liked  to  have 
coal  an'  water  enough,"  —  and  he  did  too. 

Well,  when  the  extra  man  started  I  began  as  usual 
to  "ladle  in  the  lampblack"  until  we  were  about  five 
miles  out,  when  he  called  me  up  to  him  and  asked 
me  if  there  was  a  hole  through  the  front  end  of  the 
firebox. 

"No,"  said  I.     "Why?" 

"What  is  the  trouble,  then?  Is  there  somebody 
buried  back  there,  an'  you're  trying  to  dig  him  out  ? " 

I  stared  at  him,  wondering  what  he  was  talking 
about.  Seeing  that  I  didn't  understand,  he  said, 
"  For  Heaven's  sake,  man,  get  up  there  on  your  seat 


PROMOTED  TO  THE  LEFT  SIDE  91 

an'  sit  down !  I  never  saw  anybody  shovel  coal  like 
you  do;  you've  got  enough  in  there  to  run  to  the 
next  water-plug  now.  I  can't  put  any  more  water 
into  her  till  we  get  there;  so  crack  your  door  an' 
let's  have  a  smoke." 

I  did  as  he  told  me  to ;  and  yet,  though  I  saw  by 
the  gauge  that  we  had,  as  the  boys  say,  "a  hundred 
an'  enough,"  I  was  worried  ;  and  at  last,  when  I 
could  stand  it  no  longer,  fearing  that  my  fire  would 
go  entirely  out,  I  stepped  down  and  picked  up  my 
scoop  again. 

"Say,"  said  he,  "hand  me  that  scoop  a  minute." 

I  did  so,  wondering  what  he  wanted  of  it. 

He  threw  it  on  the  foot-board  in  front  of  him,  and 
told  me  if  I  didn't  sit  down  and  rest  myself  until  we 
got  to  the  water-plug  he  would  report  me  for  wasting 
the  company's  fuel. 

That  trip  was  a  revelation  to  me.  We  not  only 
ran  by  half  the  water-plugs  and  the  coal  station,  but 
made  the  run  in  two  hours'  less  time  than  usual, 
arriving  with  nearly  half  a  tank  of  coal  left,  although 
we  had  our  regular  train  of  forty-five  loads. 

The  next  day  I  asked  him  how  it  was  done.  He 
took  me  to  his  side  of  the  cab  and  showed  me  a  notch 
in  the  quadrant  that  was  worn  smooth  and  bright. 

"  That,"  said  he,  "  is  the  notch  Pop  runs  her  in." 
Then  he  showed  me  where  he  ran  her,  and  gave  me 
the  most  lucid  explanation  of  early  cutting  off  and 
running  expansively,  and  of  its  effect  on  the  coal-pile 
and  water-tank,  that  I  had  ever  heard. 


92       THE  GENERAL  MANAGER'S  STORY 

Pop  was  laid  up  a  week  with  rheumatism,  and 
during  that  week  I  gained  several  pounds  in  weight. 
I  had  such  an  easy  time  of  it  that,  although  I  was 
very  fond  of  the  old  man,  I  dreaded  to  see  him  come 
back,  and  said  as  much  to  the  engineer. 

"Why  don't  you  tell  him  how  to  run  her,"  said  he. 
"  Pop's  a  good  old  feller.  He  won't  get  mad  ;  and 
even  if  he  does,  you'd  be  a  blamed  fool  to  keep  heav 
ing  coal  in  there  for  him  to  throw  out  the  stack.  I 
wouldn't  do  it,  an'  don't  you." 

Well,  at  last  the  day  came  when  the  old  man 
returned  to  work.  He  looked  poorly,  and  I  could 
hardly  find  it  in  my  heart  to  speak  to  him  on  a  sub 
ject  which  I  knew  to  be  a  delicate  one,  for  he  was 
a  very  old  engineer,  and  had  been  running  just  that 
way  probably  long  before  I  ever  thought  of  railroad 
ing. 

Still,  I  had  lots  of  sympathy  for  my  own  back. 
So  at  last  I  broached  the  subject,  before  we  started 
—  I  would  have  no  chance  afterward  —  and  made  up 
my  mind  to  fight  it  out  with  him  if  necessary. 

I  spoke  rather  diffidently,  but  told  him  the  whole 
story,  to  which  he  listened  very  patiently,  and  when  I 
got  through,  he  said,  — 

"My  boy,  I  don't  want  to  break  your  back.  I 
know  there's  something  in  what  you  say,  for  I've  had 
firemen  kick  before,  but  none  of  them  in  such  a 
decent  way  as  you  have ;  now  I'll  tell  you  something 
that  no  man  on  this  road  knows  but  me.  I  am  a 
machinist  by  trade,  and  never  fired  but  six  months 


PROMOTED  TO  THE  LEFT  SIDE  93 

in  my  life.  When  this  road  opened,  I  had  a  little 
influence  and  got  a  job ;  all  I  asked  for  was  a  job, 
but  as  I  had  a  letter  from  a  big  man,  and  applied  to 
the  mechanical  department,  I  was  presumed  to  be  an 
engineer,  and  given  an  engine  at  once.  Of  course,  I 
wasn't  fool  enough  to  decline,  and  I've  been  running 
here  ever  since.  That's  twenty  years  ago,  and  you're 
the  first  fireman  I  ever  had  that  I  would  trust  enough 
to  tell  that  to.  Now,  show  me  how  Laws  ran  her,  and 
by  gum,  I'll  do  the  same ;  then  we'll  see  if  we  can't 
run  by  water-plugs  and  coal  stations  as  well  as  some 
others." 

I  showed  him,  and  away  we  went.  At  first  he  was 
afraid  she  wouldn't  make  time,  cut  back  so  fine,  but 
when  he  saw  how  she  was  going  past  the  stations,  he 
was  as  pleased  as  a  child  with  a  new  toy.  When  we 
neared  the  first  water-plug,  he  sent  me  back  to  meas 
ure  the  water.  We  had  nearly  half  a  tank,  and  he 
wanted  to  stop ;  but  I  assured  him  that  it  was  per 
fectly  safe  to  go  on,  and  so  it  proved. 

He  was  as  pleased  as  Punch  when  we  wheeled  into 
the  end  of  the  division  after  the  fastest  trip  he  had 
ever  made  in  all  those  twenty  years,  and  never 
relapsed  into  his  old  style  of  running,  and  for  the 
remainder  of  my  time  with  him  no  fireman  on  the 
road  had  an  easier  time  of  it  than  I. 

We  met  with  the  usual  mishaps  that  occur  to 
freight  trains  everywhere.  But  as  I  shall  have 
enough  to  tell  about  those  that  happened  to  me  after 
I  get  to  running,  I  will  only  relate  one  here. 


94       THE  GENERAL  MANAGER'S  STORY 

We  had  on  the  fast  freight,  a  light  time  table  train 
of  perishable  goods  ;  for  Pop  had  made  such  a  record 
for  speed  lately,  that  being  an  old  and  in  all  respects 
a  first-class  man,  they  had  given  him  this  train.  We 
had  (or  supposed  we  had)  a  clear  track  before  us,  and 
he  was  wheeling  them  for  dear  life. 

I  was  hooking  up  my  fire  (I  had  to  do  that  now 
occasionally  since  the  new  style  of  running  had  come 
into  vogue),  when  suddenly  he  shut  her  off  and  blew 
brakes.  I  couldn't  see  a  thing  after  looking  into  the 
bright  fire,  but  I  heard  him  yell,  "  Git  out  of  here  !  " 

You  may  be  sure  that  I  had  learned  to  jump  long 
before  this ;  so  without  waiting  for  a  written  invitation, 
and  not  wishing  to  get  off  on  my  side  and  be  rolled 
over  and  torn  by  the  ties  and  rails  of  the  opposite 
track,  I  shut  my  teeth  hard  and  made  a  flying  leap, 
out  into  the  darkness  on  the  right  side  as  far  as  I 
could  go,  thinking  to  myself  as  I  went  that  I  hoped 
I  wouldn't  strike  a  telegraph  pole  —  and  I  didn't. 

We  were  just  entering  a  small  country  town  ;  an 
opposing  freight  train  had  occasion  to  cross  over  to 
our  track,  so  the  engineer  sent  the  head  man  out 
with  orders  to  let  us  pass  (as  we  were  nearly  due) 
and  hold  all  second-class  trains  after  that  until  he 
called  him  in.  In  a  case  of  this  kind,  it  is  under 
stood  that  the  engineer  and  conductor  will  clear 
the  track  in  time  to  allow  first-class  trains  to  pass ; 
that  is,  the  flagman  has  orders  to  hold  only  second- 
class  trains,  i.e.  freight.  The  flagman  was  lighting 
his  pipe  and  listening  to  some  story  of  the  fireman's, 


PROMOTED  TO  THE  LEFT  SIDE  95 

so  that  he  didn't  notice  what  the  engineer  said  about 
our  train ;  so  when  he  saw  a  second-class  train  com 
ing,  he  flagged,  and  as  we  were  coming  at  a  good 
gait,  he  flagged  furiously. 

Pop,  seeing  the  headlight,  supposed  of  course  they 
were  crossed  over  (as  they  had  a  perfect  right  to  be), 
and  fearing  he  couldn't  stop  in  the  distance  he  had, 
horsed  her  over,  and  we  jumped. 

The  station  agent  had  been  buying  manure  from 
the  farmers  all  winter  and  stacking  it  in  a  huge  pile 
alongside  the  track. 

As  it  was  offensive  to  the  public,  he  had  orders 
from  the  superintendent  to  get  rid  of  it  as  fast  as 
possible.  So  as  it  was  late  in  the  spring  when  we 
made  our  eventful  jump,  the  pile  was  about  half 
gone,  and  as  there  had  been  a  good  deal  of  rain  for 
a  week  past,  the  immediate  vicinity  of  it  was  a  wet, 
soggy,  malodorous  locality,  thoroughly  fermented  with 
the  distillation  from  the  heap,  covered  with  its  leav 
ings  and  numerous  dark  brown  puddles.  Into  this  I 
went,  and  Pop  after  me.  I  landed  on  my  feet,  but 
immediately  pitched  over  and  ploughed  into  it.  I 
don't  know  how  Pop  landed,  but  when  the  conductor 
asked  him  afterwards  if  he  fell,  he  said  he  fell  seven 
times. 

At  any  rate,  we  ploughed  and  rolled,  wallowed 
and  spluttered,  in  our  fragrant  bath  to  more  than  our 
hearts'  content,  —  much  more,  —  until  our  momentum 
having  expended  itself,  we  crawled  dripping,  half 
blinded  and  strangled,  up  the  bank,  to  find  our  train 


96       THE  GENERAL  MANAGER'S  STORY 

stopped  and  no  harm  done  except  to  ourselves  and 
our  feelings. 

Perhaps  that  flagman  didn't  get  a  blessing !  Pop 
wanted  to  go  back  and  kill  him  after  he  heard  the 
engineer's  explanation. 

Fortunately  it  was  a  water  station,  so  we  took  turns 
letting  the  water  run  on  each  other  (nobody  else 
would  come  near  us)  until  we  had  cleansed  ourselves 
as  well  as  we  could,  and  then  got  on  the  engine  and 
went  on.  But  for  a  long  time  it  was  a  standing  joke 
of  Pop's  to  ask  me  not  to  come  any  nearer  than  was 
necessary  please,  and  I  would  reply,  "  For  the  Lord's 
sake,  do  you  expect  anybody  to  get  any  nearer  to  you 
than  they  are  obliged  to?  Phew!  why  don't  you 
mortgage  your  farm  and  buy  a  carload  of  '  Florida 
water'?"  ' 

Having  served  a  good  spell  on  freight,  I  was  be 
ginning  to  hanker  for  promotion  to  the  left  side  of  a 
passenger  train.  Then  indeed  I  could  feel  that  I  had 
a  good  job.  Every  day  I  should  know  just  what  my 
duties  were,  and  though  the  engineer  might  not  be 
as  genial  and  companionable  as  Pop,  I  was  willing  to 
risk  the  change.  They  were  paid  by  the  mile,  and 
they  could  see  us  fellows  lying  in  the  side  track  with 
our  old  freight  trains,  losing  time,  while  they  went 
wheeling  by  us,  forty  and  fifty  miles  an  hour.  They 
could  go  over  the  division  and  pass  us  again  some 
times  on  the  same  trip.  They  of  course  earned  much 
more  money,  and  did  it  much  more  easily.  I  should 
then  come  into  immediate  contact  with  the  oldest 


PROMOTED  TO  THE  LEFT  SIDE  97 

and  most  experienced  firemen  on  the  road,  and 
should  begin  to  move  in  circles  where  promotion 
was  discussed  as  a  matter  of  immediate  personal 
interest. 

About  this  time,  an  engineer  who  had  left  the  road 
a  couple  of  years  before  returned,  and  was  appointed 
travelling  engineer  by  the  master  mechanic.  We  soon 
found  that  he  had  full  authority  to  hire  engineers  to 
fill  vacancies,  and  that  he  improved  his  opportunities. 
A  new  branch  connecting  with  an  important  mining 
and  manufacturing  locality  was  opened,  calling  for 
half  a  dozen  more  engineers.  The  firemen  had  been 
longing  for  the  opening,  and  figuring  for  the  past 
three  years,  on  who  would  be  promoted ;  but  when  the 
time  drew  near,  it  was  observed  that  several  new  en 
gineers  were  riding  on  the  engines,  learning  the  road. 
The  firemen  became  alarmed  at  once,  and  discussed 
the  matter  quite  freely.  The  engineers  took  a  hand 
in,  and  notified  us  that  if  we  cared  to  keep  our  jobs, 
we  had  better  attend  to  our  own  business  and  let  the 
officers  run  the  road  to  suit  themselves.  As  they  had 
the  ear  of  their  former  comrade,  the  travelling  engi 
neer,  this  may  have  accounted  for  their  enthusiasm  in 
upholding  the  management. 

I  became  intensely  interested  in  the  controversy ; 
and  though  I  could  not  expect  to  be  promoted  at  this 
time,  yet  I  saw  that  if  the  engineers  were  all  to  be 
hired,  our  chances  of  ever  running  on  that  road  were 
slim  indeed.  As  no  one  seemed  to  have  any  idea  of 
demanding  better  treatment  from  the  company,  or  to 


98       THE  GENERAL  MANAGER'S  STORY 

consider  that  we  had  anything  that  could  be  termed 
rights  in  the  matter,  I  made  it  my  business  to  preach 
a  new  doctrine  to  my  companions,  and  after  much 
patient  argument,  succeeded  in  convincing  many  of 
them  that  we  were  not  by  any  means  subsisting  on 
the  company's  charity.  I  said  that  we  were  as  nec 
essary  to  the  operation  of  the  road  as  the  locomotives 
themselves,  and  when  some  one  would  jeeringly  ask 
if  I  thought  the  road  would  stop  in  case  I  quit,  I  told 
him  it  was  not  the  individual  who  was  necessary,  that 
I  realized  any  one's  services  could  be  dispensed  with 
from  the  president  down,  but  the  vacancies  must  be 
filled  by  some  one,  hence  I  claimed  that  what  was 
essential  to  the  operation  of  the  road  in  the  instance 
under  discussion  was  firemen,  some  firemen  —  if  not  us, 
then  others ;  therefore,  being  necessary  to  the  opera 
tion  of  the  road,  it  was  not  unreasonable  in  us  to 
claim  some  consideration  at  the  hands  of  the  manage 
ment,  and  to  endeavor  to  establish  certain  rights  for 
ourselves.  Here,  again,  the  engineers  laughed  at  us. 
They  said  they  could  run  the  engines  with  shoeblacks, 
or  farmers,  as  firemen ;  but  I  told  them  that  didn't 
invalidate  my  argument,  as  all  I  contended  was,  that 
they  must  have  firemen. 

I  succeeded  in  making  myself  very  unpopular  with 
the  engineers ;  but  as  I  had  infused  new  life  and  hope 
into  the  firemen,  I  didn't  care  much  about  that.  I 
finally  got  three  of  the  oldest  men,  three  who  had 
felt  sure  of  promotion,  to  go  with  me  as  a  committee 
to  the  travelling  engineer  and  ask  that  the  firemen's 


We  found  the  gentleman  sitting  with  his  feet  cocked  up 
on  his  desk,  smoking."  —  p.  99. 


PROMOTED  TO  THE  LEFT  SIDE  99 

rights  to  promotion  be  recognized,  provided  I  would 
agree  to  do  all  the  talking,  which  I  was  perfectly  will 
ing  to  do,  as  I  thought  I  could  advance  such  a  con 
vincing  argument  that  he  would  be  obliged  to  fall 
into  our  view  of  the  matter. 

So  one  fine  day  I  marshalled  my  committee  in  the 
anteroom  of  the  master  mechanic's  office,  resolved  to 
beard  the  lion  in  his  den.  We  were  all  trembling  in 
our  shoes,  at  the  audacity  of  our  action,  and  wished 
that  we  hadn't  been  so  valiant ;  however,  it  was  too  late 
now  to  turn  back,  as  all  the  firemen  knew  what  we  were 
about,  and  a  number  were  waiting  in  the  round-house 
to  receive  our  report.  So  in  we  went,  our  caps  in  our 
hands,  and  asked  to  see  Mr.  Hussey.  A  clerk  stepped 
into  his  office,  and  returning  directly,  bade  us  enter. 

We  found  the  gentleman  sitting  with  his  feet 
cocked  up  on  his  desk,  smoking;  we  walked  round 
so  as  to  face  him,  and  I  asked,  in  a  voice  which  I  fear 
was  slightly  tremulous,  if  we  could  speak  to  him.  He 
gave  me  a  quick,  disagreeable  glance  from  his  cold, 
gray  eye,  and  answered  in  a  most  discouraging 
manner,  "  Ya — as,  go  on." 

After  once  having  broken  the  ice,  I  found  but 
little  difficulty  in  talking.  I  stated  the  case  to  him, 
as  I  had  done  to  the  boys  dozens  of  times  already. 
I  told  him  that  we  based  our  claim  to  recognition,  on 
the  ground  that  firemen  were  a  necessary  adjunct  to 
a  railroad ;  therefore  we  felt  that  as  we  had  performed 
our  duties  satisfactorily,  which  I  claimed  was  proven 
by  our  retention  in  the  service,  we  believed  we  were 


IOO  THE  GENERAL  MANAGER'S  STORY 

entitled  to  some  slight  consideration,  that  we  didn't 
wish  to  fire  all  our  lives,  and  believed  we  were  just 
as  capable  of  becoming  engineers  as  any  one  else  had 
ever  been,  and,  in  short,  I  asked  him  bluntly  to  fill 
the  vacancies  which  would  soon  occur,  by  promoting 
firemen  instead  of  hiring  engineers. 

When  I  got  through  he  gave  me  another  one  of 
those  wicked  leers,  and  said,  "  Are  you  done  ?  " 

"  Yes,  sir,"  said  I. 

"  Got  no  instructions  for  the  master  mechanic  or 
superintendent  ?" 

"  No,  sir ;  we've  got  no  instructions  for  anybody ; 
we  are  simply  asking  for  what  we  think  we  are 
entitled  to." 

"  Oho  !  you're  mighty  mild  all  of  a  sudden  !  Well, 
now  look  here,  my  young  agitator,  I've  had  my  eye 
on  you  for  some  time,  and  I've  heard  a  good  deal 
about  you,  too  ;  going  round  among  the  firemen, 
talking  and  criticising  my  business.  You  want  what 
you're  entitled  to,  hey  ?  Well,  you  shall  have  it,  and 
that's  a  bill  of  your  time.  Does  any  of  the  rest  of 
you  want  what  he's  entitled  to  ? " 

Glancing  hastily  at  the  boys,  I  saw  they  were 
badly  rattled ;  so,  thinking  it  useless  to  sacrifice  any 
more  of  them,  I  told  him  that  I  was  the  only  one  to 
blame  for  the  action  we  had  taken,  and  got  them  out 
of  the  office  as  quickly  as  I  could. 

We  were  no  sooner  outside  than  two  of  my  gallant 
supporters  sneaked  off  to  the  round-house,  thankful 
to  have  escaped  with  their  lives ;  but  one,  Frank 


PROMOTED  TO  THE  LEFT  SIDE  IOI 

Manly,  a  smart,  bright  young  fellow  of  about  twenty- 
one,  slightly  red-headed,  tall,  and  straight  as  an  arrow, 
Manly  by  name,  and  manly  by  nature,  brought  his 
right  fist  down  in  his  left  palm  with  a  bang,  and 
swore  that  it  was  an  infernal  shame.  "  I'll  tell  you 
what  I'll  do,  Joe,"  said  he  ;  "  I'll  go  back  in  that 
office,  and  yank  that  d — d  hound  out  from  behind 
his  desk,  and  mop  up  the  floor  with  him ;  d — n 
him !  I  always  hated  him,  and  would  like  no  better 
fun  than  to  give  him  an  almighty  good  licking,  an'  I 
can  do  it,  too." 

He  turned  to  go  in  again,  but  I  caught  him  by  the 
arm,  and  told  him  not  to  be  a  fool ;  for  while  I  had 
no  doubt  that  he  could  lick  Hussey,  he  would  not 
only  lose  his  job,  but  probably  get  himself  locked  up 
besides. 

"Ah!  who  cares  for  their  old  job?  D'ye  think  I 
want  to  stay  down  in  that  black  hole,  an'  ladle  lamp 
black  into  these  ole  man-eaters  all  my  life,  so 's  he 
can  hire  all  his  drunken  friends,  that  can't  run  any 
where  else  ?  No,  sir,  I  wouldn't  fire  another  scoop- 
ful  of  coal  on  this  road,  if  I  had  to  go  hod-carrying 
for  a  living!" 

While  he  was  ranting  in  this  manner,  I  had  gradu 
ally  drawn  him  away  from  the  office  door,  and  we 
strolled  up  the  street,  discussing  the  matter  loudly 
and  angrily ;  for  we  were  both  well  riled.  Finally 
Frank  asked  me  what  I  intended  to  do. 

"What  can  I  do,  but  hunt  another  job  ?  I'm  dis 
charged  here." 


IO2  THE  GENERAL  MANAGER'S   STORY 

He  walked  along  in  silence  for  several  minutes, 
thinking  deeply,  then,  looking  up,  he  said,  — 

"  Don't  you  do  it ;  he  had  no  right  to  discharge 
you  for  that.  I'll  tell  you  what  we'll  do  ;  it  wouldn't 
do  any  good  to  go  to  the  master  mechanic,  because 
he'd  uphold  Hussey ;  and  the  super's  no  better.  I 
won't  fire  on  the  blame  road  any  more,  as  long  as 
that's  to  be  the  rule  ;  so  let's  you  and  me  go  straight 
to  the  general  manager.  They  say  he's  a  mighty 
fine  old  fellow ;  been  all  through  the  mill  himself,  an' 
believes  in  giving  the  boys  a  fair  show.  We've  got 
nothing  to  lose,  anyway,  so  he  can't  hurt  us.  What 
do  you  say  ? " 

I  told  him  I  was  willing;  so  the  next  day  we 
marched  into  the  general  manager's  office,  as  large 
as  life,  and  at  once  ran  foul  of  his  very  inquisitive  pri 
vate  secretary,  who  wouldn't  admit  us  until  he  found 
out  just  what  our  business  was.  I  didn't  think  it 
advisable  to  tell  him,  but  Frank  said  it  was  no  secret, 
and  blurted  it  all  out.  Then  he  wanted  to  know 
why  we  bothered  the  general  manager  with  such 
matters,  why  didn't  we  go  to  the  master  mechanic  or 
the  superintendent,  and  so  on,  until  Frank,  losing 
his  temper,  told  him  we  didn't  want  to  see  anybody, 
but  would  settle  the  matter  elsewhere,  and  off  we 
started.  At  this  the  fussy  little  old  fellow  changed 
his  tactics,  called  us  back,  advised  us  not  to  get 
excited,  and  said  he  would  find  out  if  the  gentleman 
would  see  us. 

He  presently  returned  from   the  inner  sanctum 


PROMOTED  TO  THE  LEFT  SIDE  103 

and  told  us  to  be  seated,  that  the  general  manager 
was  very  busy,  but  would  see  us  directly. 

In  about  half  an  hour  a  man  came  out,  and  we 
were  told  to  step  inside.  Neither  of  us  had  ever 
seen  the  general  manager  before,  so  we  were  pleas 
antly  surprised  to  find  that  august  person  a  very 
mild-mannered  and  affable  gentleman.  He  welcomed 
us  cordially,  asked  us  to  be  seated,  and  read  from  a 
slip  of  paper,  "Two  of  the  firemen." 

"It  should  be  ex-firemen,  sir,"  said  I,  "we  are  no 
longer  employed  on  your  road." 

He  raised  his  eyebrows  slightly  and  said,  "  In  that 
case  I  hardly  see  how  you  can  have  any  business 
with  me.  It  was  on  the  supposition  that  you  were 
employees  that  I  granted  you  this  audience." 

I  asked  if  he  would  allow  us  to  state  our  case. 

"  Certainly,"  said  he.  "  Proceed ;  but  be  as  brief 
as  you  can,  for  my  time  is  valuable." 

I  told  him  the  whole  story  :  how  we  had  been  dis 
appointed  in  our  promotion,  how  we  had  respectfully 
protested  to  Mr.  Hussey,  and  I,  as  spokesman,  had 
been  peremptorily  discharged.  He  seemed  inter 
ested,  and  heard  me  through  without  interruption, 
and  when  I  had  finished,  he  asked :  "  Who  is 
Mr.  Hussey?"  I  told  him. 

"  And  he  discharged  you  both  ? " 

"  No,  sir,"  said  Frank.  "  I  wasn't  discharged  ;  but 
as  I  don't  intend  to  fire  all  my  life,  I  have  quit." 

"And  quite  right  too.  If  I  knew  that  I  had  a 
man  on  my  road  that  hadn't  ambition  enough  to 


IO4  THE  GENERAL  MANAGER'S   STORY 

aspire  to  the  highest  position  on  it,  I'd  discharge 
him  myself.  Now  you  boys  understand  that  you 
have  made  a  grave  charge  to  me  against  your  supe 
rior  officer.  If  I  bring  him  here,  will  you  repeat  the 
charges  in  his  presence?" 

"Yes,  sir,  we  will." 

"  Have  you  any  witnesses  ? " 

"We  have  the  other  two  firemen  who  were  on 
the  committee;  but  perhaps  they  wouldn't  care  to 
testify." 

"  What  are  their  names  ? " 

We  told  him  their  names,  and  he  took  them  down. 
He  then  told  us  to  be  in  his  office  again  at  ten  o'clock 
next  morning.  Frank  asked  if  we  should  notify  our 
witnesses  to  appear.  "They  will  be  notified,"  said 
he,  "  and  will  be  here,  or  I  am  very  much  mistaken." 
I  remarked  that  one  of  them  was  to  go  out  at 
4  P.M.  "Ah!"  said  he,  "that's  well  thought  of." 
He  then  told  his  clerk  to  tell  the  master  mechanic's 
office  to  relieve  fireman  Voorhees  until  further  orders : 
and  dismissed  us,  with  a  warning  to  talk  to  no  one 
about  the  matter. 

When  we  got  outside,  Frank  almost  danced  for 
joy.  "  I  tell  you,  Joe,"  said  he,  "we've  got  that  pug- 
nosed  Hussey  just  where  we  want  him.  I'll  bet  you 
that  if  it  ever  comes  his  turn  to  entertain  a  firemen's 
committee  again,  he'll  know  how  to  receive  'em  a 
blame  sight  better  than  he  did  last  time.  Bully  for 
the  old  man !  he's  a  brick !  I  hope  he'll  discharge 
Mr.  Great-I-am  Hussey.  It  would  serve  him  glad ; 
he'd  know  how  it  feels  himself,  then." 


PROMOTED  TO  THE  LEFT  SIDE  IO$ 

Back  we  went  to  the  boarding-house,  and  kept  out 
of  sight  as  much  as  possible ;  but  we  were  unable  to 
escape  some  questioning,  though  when  asked  what 
we  were  going  to  do  now,  we  answered  that  we  had 
not  yet  made  up  our  minds. 

The  next  day  we  arrived  at  the  office  on  time, 
where  we  found  Mr.  Hussey,  who  paid  not  the  slight 
est  attention  to  us  and  our  two  committeemen,  who 
were  in  what  Frank  called  a  "blue  funk,"  wondering 
what  was  to  be  done  to  them.  The  general  manager 
arrived  shortly  after  us,  bowed  comprehensively  to 
the  crowd,  said,  "  Good-morning,  gentlemen ;  step 
inside,  please,"  and  when  we  were  all  in,  asked  us  to 
be  seated. 

"Now,"  said  he,  "which  is  Mr.  Hussey?" 

"I  am  Mr.  Hussey,"  said  that  gentleman,  disguis 
ing  as  much  as  possible  his  naturally  surly  manner, 
out  of  deference  to  his  superior  officer. 

"  I  have  received  a  very  grave  charge,  Mr.  Hussey, 
from  one,  or  perhaps  I  should  say  two,  of  our  fire 
men,  one  of  whom  you  have  discharged,  as  I  under 
stand,  for  having  preferred  a  request  on  behalf  of 
himself  and  others.  Is  that  correct  ? " 

"I  discharged  that  feller,"  said  Hussey,  indicating 
me  by  a  jerk  of  his  head,  "because  he's  an  agitator : 
he's  been  organizin'  the  firemen,  an'  tryin'  ter  make 
trouble  on  the  road.  I  should  have  discharged  him 
at  the  first  chance,  anyway ;  so,  when  he  came  into 
my  office  an'  tried  to  dictate  to  me  who  I  should 
hire  an'  who  I  should  promote,  I  let  'im  go.  I  don't 


IO6      THE  GENERAL  MANAGER'S  STORY 

want  no  firemen,  nor  engineers  neither,  dictatin'  to 
me,  an'  I  won't  have  it ! " 

"Be  seated  a  moment,  please,"  said  the  general 
manager. 

He  then  called  the  members  of  the  committee  up, 
one  after  another,  and,  after  warning  them  to  be 
careful  to  state  the  exact  facts,  drew  from  them 
the  conversation  that  had  passed  between  Hussey 
and  me  in  the  office.  He  asked  Hussey  if  it  was 
correct,  and  he  admitted  that  it  was.  He  then  said 
that  it  was  his  wish  that  all  employees  on  the  road 
should  be  considered  as  standing  in  the  line  of  pro 
motion  in  their  several  departments;  that  he  had 
always  supposed  such  to  be  the  case,  and  was  sur 
prised  to  find  it  otherwise,  as  he  had  certainly  made 
his  views  known  on  that  subject.  He  said  that  pro 
motions  should  be  governed  by  seniority  of  service, 
unless  the  senior  employee  could  be  shown  to  be 
unfit  for  the  position ;  favoritism  he  would  not  toler 
ate  under  any  disguise  whatsoever.  He  gave  Mr. 
Hussey  a  very  plain  lecture  on  the  autocratic  posi 
tion  which  he  had  assumed  toward  us,  saying  that  he 
desired  all  employees  to  discuss  among  themselves 
matters  pertaining  to  their  own  interests,  and  to 
suggest  such  changes  as  they  thought  would  be 
beneficial  to  themselves,  guaranteeing  that  all  such 
questions  should  receive  his  personal  attention,  and 
any  concessions  that  could  be  made  without  injury 
to  the  interests  of  the  road  he  would  gladly  make. 
He  told  us  that  any  employee  could  always  obtain 


PROMOTED  TO  THE  LEFT  SIDE  IO/ 

an  audience  with  him,  and  said  that  the  right  of 
appeal  from  the  decisions  of  inferior  officers  should 
be  the  rule  while  he  remained  in  the  company's 
employ. 

He  then  told  Frank  and  me  to  return  to  work,  and 
was  about  to  dismiss  us,  when  Hussey,  who  had  been 
getting  red  in  the  face  and  showing  signs  of  increas 
ing  uneasiness,  rose,  and  said  in  a  somewhat  insolent 
tone,  — 

"  Do  you  mean  to  say,  Mr.  General  Manager,  that 
that  feller's  reinstated  over  my  head  ? " 

"  You  can  call  it  that,  if  you  choose." 

"Well,  I'll  tell  you  one  thing:  I  don't  care  if 
you're  general  manager,  or  what  you  are,  you  can't 
run  no  railroad  that  way  —  " 

"There!  there!"  said  the  old  gentleman,  knock 
ing  on  his  desk  with  a  pencil,  "  that  will  do.  I  think 
I  understand  you,  and  let  me  give  you  a  little  piece 
of  advice,  —  when  talking  to  a  gentleman,  be  as 
gentlemanly  as  you  can,  and  when  addressing  your 
superior  officer,  try  and  remember  that  a  certain 
modicum  of  respect  is  due  to  his  position  — " 

"Gentleman  be  d— d!"  roared  Hussey.  "What 
are  ye  ?  Ye're  nothin'  but  an  old  ex-freight  brake- 
man,  an'  ye're  so  d — d  old  that  whatever  little  sense 
ye  might  have  had  once  is  all  gone  now.  To  blazes 
with  you  an'  yer  ole  streak  of  rust !  I  wouldn't  work 
on  a  road  that's  got  such  an  old  woman  fool  for  a 
general  manager,  if  it  was  the  only  road  on  earth ! " 
And  he  started  for  the  door  just  as  it  was  opened  by 


IO8  THE  GENERAL  MANAGER'S   STORY 

a  burly  attendant,  who  quietly,  but  firmly,  and  with 
an  air  of  dexterity  which  proved  familiarity  with  the 
method,  took  Mr.  Hussey  by  the  wrist  and  elbow 
and  escorted  him,  swearing  uproariously,  to  the 
outer  world. 

We  bade  the  general  manager  good  day,  thanking 
him  for  his  kindness,  and  withdrew.  Frank  and  I 
kept  a  little  in  advance  of  the  others  on  our  return, 
though  they  tried  to  fraternize ;  but  we  looked  upon 
them  coldly,  and  so  discouraged  their  advances. 


CHAPTER  IX 

SETTING  HUSSEY'S  PACKING  OUT  —  THE  NEW  SUPER 
—  BE  CAREFUL  BUT  MAKE  TIME  —  THE  PRICE  OF 
LIBERTY  —  FIRING  FOR  SIMPSON  —  HELL-FIRE  JACK 
AND  SECOND  FOUR  —  COLLISION  —  THE  FARMER, 
THE  COW,  AND  THE  FLIP-FLAP — A  RUN-AWAY 
ENGINE 

THE  results  of  our  interview  were  very  satisfactory. 
We  got  rid  of  Hussey,  who  spent  a  month  in  a 
drunken  celebration  of  his  discharge ;  pouring  out 
dire  threats  of  vengeance  against  Frank  and  me, 
until  Frank  ran  across  him  one  evening  and  "  set  his 
packing  out "  so  satisfactorily  that  he  left  town  that 
same  night  on  a  through  freight,  rather  than  exhibit 
his  damaged  countenance  to  the  intensely  unsympa 
thetic  gaze  of  the  railroaders ;  for  now  that  he  was 
shorn  of  power  to  either  punish  or  reward,  his  fine- 
weather  friends  fell  away,  and  he  found  himself  de 
cidedly  unpopular,  so  that  none  sympathized  with 
the  fond  delusion  which  he  entertained  for  some  time 
of  being  sent  for  and  reinstated. 

The  magnitude  of  our  success  dazed  and  almost 
frightened  us.  Our  visit  to  the  general  manager  had 
been  undertaken  merely  as  a  forlorn  hope,  and  with 
hardly  any  expectation  of  being  granted  even  an 

109 


110  THE  GENERAL  MANAGER'S  STORY 

interview.  We  were  lionized  by  the  firemen,  and 
looked  upon  with  sincere  dislike  by  the  engineers; 
as  it  was  for  their  interest  to  have  all  railroads  hire 
engineers.  Even  old  Pop  told  me,  with  the  utmost 
gravity,  that  I  might  as  well  quit,  and  go  along  with 
Hussey ;  for  he  said  the  master  mechanic  would  now 
be  down  on  me  for  having  been  instrumental  in  get 
ting  Hussey  discharged,  and  interfering  with  the 
management  of  his  department.  He  predicted  that 
my  stay  on  the  road  would  be  very  limited,  but  I 
remembered  what  the  general  manager  had  said  to 
us  about  the  right  of  appeal,  and  made  up  my  mind 
that  if  the  master  mechanic  did  me  an  injustice,  I 
would  fight  it  out  as  I  had  in  the  last  instance. 

I  had  occasion  several  times  to  remember  Pop's 
words ;  for  though  I  was  not  discharged,  a  system  of 
petty  annoyances  was  started  against  me  in  the  effort 
to  tire  me  out,  so  that  I  would  leave  of  my  own 
accord.  It  became  a  frequent  occurrence  now  for 
me  to  be  called  to  the  office,  to  receive  reprimands 
and  warnings  for  all  sorts  of  unimportant  matters; 
and  as  I  knew  the  method  pursued  on  railroads,  I 
understood  the  meaning  of  these  actions  on  the 
master  mechanic's  part. 

A  strict  record  is  kept  of  the  service  of  every 
employee.  A  report  is  filed  with  the  head  of  the  de 
partment  of  all  violations  of  the  rules,  and  the  pun 
ishments  awarded  for  the  same ;  so  that  when  at  any 
time  a  serious  offence  is  committed,  the  superintend 
ent  can  call  for  the  man's  record,  and  base  his  deci- 


CHASING  A   RUN-AWAY  III 

sion  to  a  great  extent  upon  it,  and  as  it  is  a  practical 
impossibility  to  obey  all  orders,  and  at  the  same  time 
perform  one's  duty,  a  prejudiced  official  can  ruin  the 
record  of  any  man.  For  instance,  we  got  a  new 
superintendent,  and  like  the  proverbial  new  broom, 
he  swept  exceedingly  clean.  He  was  not  a  practical 
railroader,  but  had  been  all  his  life  a  clerk ;  however, 
he  succeeded  in  gaining  the  good  will  of  the  general 
superintendent  who  recommended  his  appointment 
when  a  vacancy  occurred,  and  the  general  manager 
sanctioned  it.  The  new  super  lived  a  dozen  miles  or 
so  out  on  the  road,  where  there  was  a  station  located 
down  in  a  hole  with  sharp  curves  entering  it  from 
both  directions.  There  had  been  several  little  wrecks 
there,  caused  by  trains  coming  down  into  the  station 
and  hitting  others  pulling  out  of  the  siding,  and  of 
course  the  excuse  always  was  that  worm-eaten  chest 
nut  "brakes  didn't  hold,"  though  every  one  knew  that 
if  they  came  in  there  under  control  as  they  should, 
they  would  be  able  to  stop  on  getting  the  flag. 

The  new  super  published  an  entirely  unnecessary 
order  to  the  effect  that  all  second-class  trains  (freight) 
should  come  into  this  place  prepared  to  stop  before 
reaching  the  switch.  One  evening  while  sitting  on 
his  piazza  he  saw  a  stock  train  go  down  there  at  what 
he  thought  was  a  dangerous  rate  of  speed.  The  next 
day  he  had  the  engineer  in  his  office  and  cautioned  him. 

The  engineer  said  to  him  :  "  I  had  hauled  that  train 
over  a  hundred  miles  before  you  saw  it,  and  knew 
just  what  I  could  do  with  it.  At  the  rate  I  was 


112  THE  GENERAL  MANAGER'S  STORY 

going  I  would  have  had  no  difficulty  whatever,  in 
stopping  clear  of  the  switch.  You  want  these  stock 
trains  to  go  over  the  division  in  six  hours,  when  you 
know  we  have  got  to  violate  the  twenty  mile  per 
hour  rule  to  do  it,  and  squeeze  out  every  half  minute 
possible  on  all  such  cautionary  orders  as  this ;  to 
say  nothing  of  running  by  slow  flags  and  through 
yard  limits,  at  a  speed  that  will  down  us  if  anything 
ever  goes  wrong  at  any  of  those  places.  Yet  if  we 
don't  make  the  time  you  want  with  these  trains,  you 
will  take  us  off,  and  give  them  to  somebody  else. 
Now  what  is  a  man  to  do  ? " 

He  got  no  direct  answer  ;  it  isn't  policy  for  a  rail 
road  official  to  answer  embarrassing  questions  of  that 
sort.  The  superintendent  contented  himself  with 
warning  the  engineer  to  "  be  careful,  very  careful ; 
I  wouldn't  allow  you  to  go  out  on  the  head  of  a 
train  if  I  didn't  know  that  you  are  a  good  careful 
man,  but  of  course  I  want  you  to  make  time." 

The  engineer  then  complained  that  in  five  years' 
running  on  the  road  he  had  never  before  been  called 
to  the  office,  and  had  taken  great  pride  in  keeping 
his  record  clear. 

"Yes,  I  know,"  said  this  Daniel  come  to  judgment ; 
"  I  looked  up  your  record  and  found  that  up  to  the 
present  it  was  clear." 

Having  got  rid  of  Hussey  before  he  had  succeeded 
in  filling  all  of  the  vacancies  with  hired  men,  a  couple 
of  the  old  firemen  were  promoted  ;  and  their  places 
on  passenger  trains  filled  by  promoting  firemen  from 


CHASING  A  RUN-AWAY  113 

the  freight  department.  Although  there  were  three 
older  men  than  I  on  freight,  one  of  those  promoted 
was  younger,  so  I  went  to  the  two  men  older  than  my 
self  and  reminded  them  of  what  the  general  manager 
had  promised  us,  asking  them  if  they  didn't  intend 
to  kick  for  their  promotion.  At  first  they  said,  "  Ah, 
what's  the  use  ?  The  engineer  asked  for  that  man  ;  and 
if  we  make  a  fuss,  we  might  get  the  place,  but  both 
the  master  mechanic  and  the  engineer  would  be 
down  on  us,  and  it  would  not  do  us  any  good." 

I  reminded  them  that  eternal  vigilance  was  the 
price  of  liberty,  asked  them  what  they  were  firing  for, 
and  told  them  they  were  fools  to  allow  their  rights 
to  be  taken  from  them  without  a  protest.  Finally 
they  said  that  if  I  would  go  with  them,  they  would 
request  the  master  mechanic  to  do  the  right  thing. 

"  No,  sir,"  said  I ;  "  I'll  head  no  more  committees 
for  you  fellows  ;  but  if  you  are  not  going  to  demand 
your  rights,  I  am  mine.  I'll  not  permit  a  man  to  be 
promoted  over  my  head  if  I  can  help  it." 

I  marched  directly  to  the  master  mechanic's  office. 
He  was  in,  and  looking  up,  as  I  fancied,  rather  suspi 
ciously  —  or  shall  I  say  guiltily  ?  —  demanded  to  know 
my  business.  I  told  him  that  I  understood  that  it 
was  the  policy  of  the  road  to  promote  men  according 
to  their  seniority,  and  as  a  younger  than  I  had  been 
promoted,  I  had  come  in  to  see  him  about  it. 

"Who  is  it?"  said  he. 

"  Peterson,  sir." 

"  Is  Peterson  a  younger  man  than  you  ?  " 
i 


114      THE  GENERAL  MANAGER'S  STORY 

"Yes,  sir." 

He  called  for  a  book,  which  he  looked  over,  and 
then  said,  "  Yes,  he  is ;  but  Whitworth  and  Collins  are 
both  your  seniors,  so  I  don't  see  as  you  are  entitled 
to  anything." 

I  told  him  they  were  the  only  two  ahead  of  me ; 
but  that  if  he  put  Peterson  ahead,  that  made  three ; 
that  I  had  fired  over  two  years,  and  didn't  see  why 
I  should  forfeit  promotion  in  favor  of  another.  He 
closed  the  book  with  a  bang,  asked  me  if  I  wanted 
that  train,  and  when  I  said  I  did,  he  answered,  "  All 
right,  sir;  you  can  have  it." 

"  Shall  I  take  her  next  trip,  sir  ? " 

"  Yes ;  or  you  can  pay  your  fare  to ,  and  fire 

her  back  to-night,  if  you  like,"  savagely. 

I  thanked  him  as  humbly  as  I  could  and  went  out, 
my  heart  somewhat  misgiving  me.  Whitworth  and 
Collins  asked  me  how  I  made  out. 

"  I  got  the  train,"  said  I. 

"Bully  for  you  ! "  said  Whitworth. 

"  You  won't  keep  it  a  week,"  said  Collins. 

"  Well,  I've  got  it,  anyway,  and  I'll  keep  it  as  long 
as  I  can,  and  I  won't  be  put  off  it  for  nothing,  either," 
said  I,  my  courage  returning  now  that  I  was  clear  of 
the  office. 

The  next  day  I  came  down  to  the  round-house 
bright  and  early,  so  as  to  be  sure  and  have  my  engine 
ready  on  time  and  in  good  shape,  for  I  knew  I  would 
not  be  apt  to  get  a  very  cordial  reception  from  the 
engineer,  and  I  didn't  want  to  give  him  cause  for 


CHASING  A  RUN-AWAY  1 15 

complaint.  I  had  her  shining  like  a  glass  bottle  full 
of  pitch  when  he  came  along.  He  was  a  surly, 
important  fellow,  very  unpopular  with  the  firemen, 
as  he  was  one  of  those  who  believed  that  a  locomo 
tive  engineer  was  little,  if  any,  lower  than  the  gods, 
and  firemen  were  especially  created  to  be  their  ser 
vants.  When  he  climbed  aboard  and  saw  me  busily 
at  work,  he  stopped  short,  and  said,  — 

"  What  are  you  doin'  on  this  engine  ? " 

"Getting  her  ready  to  go  out." 

"What's  the  matter  with  Billy  ?  " 

"  Nothing  as  I  know  of.  This  train  don't  belong 
to  him,  so  he's  been  put  back  on  freight." 

"Oho  !  so  you've  worked  him  out  of  his  job,  hey?" 

"  No,  I  have  got  him  out  of  my  job,  that's  all." 

"  Your  job,  hey  ?     You  can't  fire  this  train." 

"  How  do  you  know  ? " 

"Because  you  never  fired  a  passenger  train,  an* 
this  is  an  almighty  hard  train.  I  got  Billy  Peterson 
put  on  here  because  I  wanted  him,  an'  now  you've 
got  his  job  away  from  him ;  by  G — d,  things  are 
coming  to  a  fine  pass  when  firemen  run  the  road. 
I'll  tell  you  one  thing,  my  young  buck :  you've  bit  off 
more  'n  you  can  chew  this  time ;  if  I  don't  give  you  a 
belly-full  before  you  see  this  round-house  again,  you 
can  call  me  a  quaker  !" 

He  was  a  big  two  hundred  and  forty  pounder,  but 
from  his  mean,  overbearing  way,  I  had  long  ago 
judged  him  to  be  a  coward.  I  knew  that  he  disliked 
me  especially  for  the  action  I  had  taken  in  going  to 


Il6  THE  GENERAL  MANAGER'S   STORY 

the  general  manager,  and  I  knew,  too,  that  if  I  let 
him  once  begin  to  bully  me,  I  would  have  a  dog's 
life  as  long  as  I  staid  with  him,  so  I  determined  to 
have  it  out  right  then  and  there. 

"  See  here,  Mr.  Simpson,"  said  I ;  "  I  don't  know 
of  any  firemen  that  are  running  the  road,  but  I  do 
know  that  no  engineers  are  running  it.  The  day 
when  firemen  had  no  rights  on  this  road  is  past,  and 
you  may  as  well  admit  that  fact.  This  train  belongs 
to  me.  I  can  fire  it  as  well  as  anybody ;  and  if  you 
work  against  me  to  knock  me  out,  I'll  beat  you  at 
your  own  game  and  get  you  discharged." 

He  sat  and  stared  at  me,  with  his  mouth  open  in 
amazement,  while  I  uttered  this  pure  bluff,  then  re 
gaining  his  senses,  he  jumped  down  off  the  engine  in 
a  rage,  saying,  "  Well,  d — n  you,  anyhow  ;  I  won't 
take  you  if  I  have  to  go  out  alone."  And  off  he  went 
to  the  office,  but  came  back  again  directly,  and  with 
out  a  word  pulled  out  for  the  train-shed.  After  we 
got  coupled  on,  and  while  waiting  for  the  conductor's 
signal,. he  turned  to  me  and  said,  "You've  forced 
yourself  on  here  where  you're  not  wanted,  and  now 
mind  what  I  tell  you :  you'll  keep  this  engine  hot,  or 
I'll  do  a  little  reporting  to  the  general  manager 
myself ;  then  we'll  see  who'll  get  discharged." 

"All  right,"  said  I.  "I  can  keep  her  hot  if  you 
run  her  right ;  and  now  let  me  tell  you  something : 
I'm  entitled  to  this  job,  and  I'm  going  to  have  it,  in 
spite  of  you ;  and  if  I  lose  it  for  any  reason,  whether 
it's  my  fault  or  not,  I'll  make  no  reports  to  anybody, 


You've  forced  yourself  on  here  where  you're  not 
wanted.'  "  —  p.  116. 


CHASING  A  RUN-AWAY 

but  I'll  lick  you  every  day  for  a  year,  as  big  as  you 
are.  And  if  you  have  any  doubts  about  my  ability  to 
do  it,  jump  right  down  here  on  the  ground,  and  I'll 
give  you  the  first  dose  before  leaving-time." 

I  heard  the  conductor  call  out  "  All  aboard !  "  saw 
Simpson  look  back,  and  as  he  jerked  the  throttle 
wide  open,  I  rang  the  bell  with  one  hand,  and  opened 
the  fire  door  with  the  other,  keeping  it  open  until  he 
got  through  slipping  her. 

Not  another  word  passed  between  us  during  the 
trip.  I  kept  her  good  and  hot.  He  ran  her  correctly, 
and  on  the  return  run  he  told  me  he  didn't  blame  me 
any  for  the  stand  I  had  taken,  as  a  man  would  be  a 
fool  not  to  get  what  belonged  to  him  on  a  railroad, 
if  he  could. 

I  fired  for  him  nearly  two  years ;  and  though  I 
could  never  quite  forget  the  attitude  he  had  assumed 
toward  me  at  first,  we  became  eventually  quite  good 
friends.  He  understood  his  business  thoroughly, 
and  could  make  time  easily  with  a  train  that  would 
have  kept  some  of  the  old  runners  on  the  anxious 
seat.  He  would  insist  on  having  his  engine  kept  in 
first-class  repair,  even  though  he  had  to  have  a  stand- 
up  row  with  the  master  mechanic  to  get  the  work 
done,  all  of  which  made  my  work  much  easier.  The 
natural  consequence  was  that  we  made  a  name  for 
fast  runs,  and  were  frequently  sent  out  with  specials. 
I  paid  particular  attention  to  his  method  of  handling 
her,  and  thereby  gained  a  thorough  knowledge  of  the 
most  successful  manner  of  handling  trains  and  en- 


Il8  THE  GENERAL  MANAGER'S  STORY 

gines  —  a  knowledge  which  was  afterwards  of  inesti 
mable  value  to  me. 

I  have  mentioned  the  fact  that  railroad  superin 
tendents  wink  at  violation  of  rules  sometimes,  if 
thereby  good  runs  are  made,  and  no  harm  comes  from 
it.  There  was  a  fast  express  from  the  east  which 
seldom  arrived  on  time  during  the  winter,  being 
delayed  by  snow.  As  it  was  an  early  morning  train 
into  Chicago,  and  of  a  somewhat  local  nature  on  our 
division,  business  men  were  continually  complaining 
of  the  delay  and  inconvenience  caused  them  by  its 
being  late ;  so  one  winter,  in  order  to  satisfy  them,  a 
first  section  was  run  over  the  division,  hauled  by  the 
regular  engine,  to  do  the  local  work,  and  we  were 
stationed  with  our  engine  at  the  other  end  of  the 
division,  to  take  the  regular  train  when  it  came 
along,  and  run  it  as  a  second  section,  making  no 
stops  unless  there  were  passengers  to  get  off,  which 
seldom  occurred.  It  was  an  open  secret  that  this 
job  was  given  to  Simpson  on  account  of  his  record 
breaking  proclivities,  and  the  superintendent  would 
usually  meet  us  on  the  station  platform,  and  con 
gratulate  him  on  his  lightning  run ;  for  we  would 
frequently  make  up  an  hour  and  a  half,  following  the 
first  section  right  in.  Now,  of  course,  the  superin 
tendent  knew  that  in  order  to  make  such  flying  trips 
as  that,  it  was  necessary  to  disregard  yard-limit  rules 
and  slow-downs ;  but  he  was  so  pleased  with  the 
record  the  road  was  making  in  delivering  its  eastern 
train  on  time,  that  he  said  never  a  word. 


CHASING  A  RUN-AWAY  119 

Some  eighty  miles  out  from  Chicago  there  was  a 
small  city,  where  we  had  a  large  freight-yard  nearly 
three  miles  long.  The  yard-limit  rule  required  all 
engines  to  reduce  speed  to  six  miles  an  hour,  when 
running  within  the  limits  of  any  railroad  yard  —  a  rule 
that  was  never  respected  by  any  one,  nor  enforced  ; 
it  was  merely  a  hole  for  the  company  to  crawl  out 
of  in  case  of  a  collision  in  the  yard.  No  train  could 
make  time  if  the  engineer  observed  that  rule,  for 
there  were  miles  and  miles  of  yards  on  the  division. 
It  is  also  a  rigid  rule  that  the  main  track  must  not 
be  used  between  sections  of  a  first-class  train,  for  the 
sections  are  all  regarded  as  one  train,  consequently 
the  train  has  not  passed  until  the  last  section  has 
gone.  Now,  while  this  rule  is  sometimes  violated, 
and  nobody  the  wiser,  "Hell-fire  Jack  and  second 
four  "  were  so  well  known  by  all  employees,  that  no 
body  would  take  chances,  as  a  rule,  of  getting  between 
her  and  her  first  section  for  a  minute ;  but  on  a  cer 
tain  unfortunate  morning  a  freight  crew  were  doing 
some  switching  in  the  yard  I  speak  of,  and  before 
they  went  to  work  the  conductor  had  learned  from  the 
operator  that  "  second  four  "  was  an  hour  and  fifteen 
minutes  late ;  so  as  it  was  reasonable  to  suppose  that 
she  would  be  at  least  half  an  hour  late  at  the  yard, 
he  instructed  his  flagman  to  hold  her,  unless  he  was 
called  in  before  she  arrived.  This  would  give  him 
a  chance  to  use  that  track  for  a  few  minutes  if  he 
needed  it,  as  he  knew  that  even  if  the  miraculous 
happened,  and  second  four  made  up  more  time  than 


120  THE  GENERAL   MANAGER'S  STORY 

it  was  in  human  power  to  do,  he  would  be  pro 
tected  until  he  could  get  off  her  track,  close  the 
switch,  and  call  his  flag.  In  fact,  he  did  the  unpar 
donable  in  railroading,  —  he  "  took  chances." 

It  so  happened  that  after  "  first  four  "  passed,  he  had 
occasion  to  cross  to  the  other  side  of  the  yard ;  so 
he  told  his  engineer  of  the  precautions  he  had  taken, 
and  asked  him  to  cross  over.  The  engineer  declined, 
saying  he  knew  better  than  to  cross  over  between 
sections  of  a  first-class  train.  They  argued  the  ques 
tion  awhile,  and  finally  the  conductor  persuaded  him 
that  he  would  be  foolish  to  lay  there  half  an  hour 
or  more  waiting  for  her,  when  it  was  only  a  minute's 
work  to  slip  across,  —  and  they  were  protected  any 
how.  At  last,  being  over-persuaded,  the  engineer 
said,  "  All  right ;  get  your  switches  open,  and  I'll 
cross  over."  During  this  conversation  more  minutes 
than  they  thought  had  gone  by.  Everything  having 
been  favorable,  we  had  made  a  most  extraordinary 
run ;  and  the  flagman,  knowing  that  his  conductor 
would  not  dare  hold  a  first-class  train,  had  not  gone 
out  very  far,  and  was  listening  for  the  whistle  signal 
which  should  tell  him  to  let  second  four  come,  when 
we  came  wheeling  round  the  curve  sixty-five  miles 
an  hour. 

He  frantically  waved  his  red  flag  as  we  flew  by. 
Jack  shut  off,  reversed,  applied  the  air-brake  and 
blew  a  blast  on  his  whistle  that  made  that  freight 
crew's  hair  stand  on  end.  Their  engine  was  squarely 
out  on  the  track  ahead  of  us,  backing  over.  The 


CHASING  A  RUN-AWAY  121 

engineer  pulled  his  throttle  wide  open  in  the  effort 
to  get  across,  but  he  hadn't  time.  We  hit  her  right 
on  the  back  drive ;  both  engines  rolled  over  on  their 
sides,  and  both  engineers  and  firemen  were  thrown 
out  of  their  cabs  and  rolled  around  the  yard.  Luck 
ily  no  one  was  seriously  injured,  though  several  pas 
sengers  were  bruised  and  cut  by  flying  glass,  and 
the  tracks  were  pretty  well  torn  up. 

While  Jack  and  I  were  busy  getting  the  fire  out 
of  our  engine  the  conductor  went  up  to  the  tele 
graph  office  and  reported  the  wreck,  and  inside  of  an 
hour  a  new  train  was  backed  down  on  one  of  the 
yard  tracks,  our  passengers  and  baggage  transferred, 
and  we  went  on.  Next  day  all  hands  were  called  to 
the  office,  and  from  the  mass  of  lies  we  told,  the 
superintendent  sifted  the  truth  ;  and  the  conductor, 
engineer,  and  flagman  of  the  freight  were  discharged 
at  once,  and  Jack  was  suspended. 

After  he  had  loafed  over  thirty  days,  and  heard 
nothing  from  the  superintendent,  he  called  on  the 
gentleman,  and  asked  what  he  was  going  to  do  with 
him.  The  superintendent  blazed  out  wrathfully : 
"I  don't  know  what  to  do  with  you.  If  the  law 
allowed  me  to,  I'd  hang  you  ;  a  man  who  would  go 
through  a  yard  as  you  did  ought  to  be  hung."  To 
which  Jack  replied  in  righteous  indignation,  "Well, 
I  wish  you'd  do  something  with  me.  I  can't  afford 
to  lay  round  here  all  summer  waiting  for  you  to 
make  up  your  mind." 

"  You  needn't  lay  round  one  minute.  Do  you  un 
derstand  that  ?  Not  one  minute." 


122      THE  GENERAL  MANAGER'S  STORY 

Jack  wasn't  discharged  ;  he  was  too  good  a  man 
to  let  go,  but  after  he  got  back  to  work  he  said  that 
if  they  wanted  any  more  records  broken  they  might 
get  somebody  else  to  do  it ;  he  was  going  to  run 
according  to  the  rules. 

While  on  the  passenger  train  I  learned  to  wonder 
at  the  temerity  with  which  people  get  in  the  way  of 
trains  and  so  get  themselves  killed ;  and  I  noticed 
that  it  was  almost  a  universal  practice  with  people 
driving  across  the  track,  when  they  hear  a  train  com 
ing,  and  especially  if  the  engineer  whistles  to  them 
to  get  off  the  track,  to  yank  on  the  lines  instead  of 
plying  the  whip  —  now  I  wonder  why  they  do  that. 

I  remember  one  case  of  an  old  fellow  driving 
across  the  track  slowly,  and  leading  a  cow  behind 
the  wagon.  We  came  on  him  rather  suddenly  round 
a  curve,  though  he  must  have  heard  Jack  blow  for 
the  crossing  half  a  mile  back.  There  he  was,  square 
on  the  track ;  Jack  whistled  at  him,  and  I  rung  the 
bell.  With  the  rare  presence  of  mind  of  his  class, 
he  commenced  to  saw  viciously  on  the  lines.  His 
old  crowbait  of  a  horse  shook  his  head  in  dumb  pro 
test,  and  settled  back  in  the  breeching.  It  was  im 
possible  to  check  the  train.  The  cow  had  proceeded 
far  enough  so  that  the  point  of  the  pilot  passed  under 
her  belly,  raising  her  a  dozen  feet  in  the  air.  She 
turned  a  half  somersault,  and  fell  on  her  back  across 
the  seat  alongside  of  the  farmer ;  but  her  weight  was 
more  than  the  antediluvian  vehicle  could  stand,  so 
down  it  went,  all  of  a  heap,  like  the  "  Wonderful  One 


CHASING  A   RUN-AWAY  123 

Hoss  Shay,"  the  farmer  himself  turning  some  kind 
of  a  flip-flap  out  over  the  body  of  the  cow.  Looking 
back,  I  saw  him  get  up  and  shake  his  fist  at  us,  so  I 
told  Jack  he  was  all  right,  and  we  went  on ;  but  I  be 
lieve  the  company  paid  for  both  his  cow  and  wagon. 

One  evening,  just  as  the  conductor  gave  the  signal, 
and  we  had  started  from  the  water-plug,  the  operator 
came  flying  out  of  his  office,  waving  an  order  and 
shouting  like  mad.  We  were  four  minutes  late,  and 
as  I  shouted  "whoa"  to  Jack,  I  could  see  that  he  was 
mad.  But  that  same  four  minutes  was  our  salvation ; 
for  if  we  had  got  away  from  that  station  on  time,  we 
would  have  met  with  a  very  large  surprise  party  a 
little  later.  The  operator  handed  up  an  order  to  the 

effect  that  engine  96  had  run  away  from  and 

was  coming  east  on  the  west-bound  track.  That 
was  all,  and  enough,  too ;  we  knew  she  was  coming, 
heading  for  us,  but  how  far  away  she  was,  or  how 
fast  she  was  coming,  we  didn't  know.  It  was  a  time 
to  think  and  act  quickly.  Right  behind  us  was  an 
iron  bridge  eighty  feet  above  the  rocky  bed  of  a 
mountain  stream ;  an  eighth  of  a  mile  beyond  the 
bridge  was  a  cross-over  switch.  As  there  was  no  sid 
ing  on  our  track,  our  only  way  was  to  back  over  this. 
Although  we  were  tolerably  sure  that  there  was 
nothing  coming  behind  us  on  our  track,  still  it  is 
a  grave  violation  of  the  rules  to  back  up  without 
first  sending  a  flag  back  to  protect  you.  There  was 
nothing  else  for  it,  however,  so  Jack,  shouting  to  the 
operator  to  hold  everything  east  bound,  as  he  was 


124      THE  GENERAL  MANAGER'S  STORY 

going  to  back  over,  commenced  backing  right  away, 
telling  me  to  notify  the  conductor  and  get  back  on 
the  engine  as  quickly  as  possible. 

When  I  got  back,  he  told  me  to  watch  out  ahead, 
and  if  I  saw  her  coming,  to  sing  out,  so  as  we  could 
get  off  if  she  was  coming  like  hell.  It  was  an  anxious 
moment ;  the  rear  brakeman  was  giving  the  signal, 
and  when  we  got  near  the  switch  it  was  necessary 
to  slack  up  so  he  could  get  off,  unlock,  and  open  it. 
I  don't  suppose  that  switch  had  been  used  much ; 
that  was  the  only  time  I  ever  saw  it  used.  And 
passenger  brakemen  are  proverbially  slow  at  such 
matters,  for  they  hate  to  soil  their  white  hands  and 
good  clothes.  It  seemed  as  if  he  would  never  get  it 
over.  Jack  had  to  come  to  a  full  stop  to  keep  from 
running  over  it,  and  I  could  hear  him  muttering 
curses  on  the  unfortunate  brakeman,  who,  I  have 
no  doubt,  was  doing  his  level  best,  and  at  last  got 
the  switch  open ;  then  it  appeared  that  the  con 
ductor  had  not  had  sufficient  forethought  to  send 
another  man  to  the  other  one,  but  the  same  fellow 
had  to  go  and  fumble  with  it,  calling  forth  more 
anathemas  from  us.  At  last  we  got  the  welcome 
signal  to  back  up,  and  he  gave  her  a  jerk  back  that 
made  all  the  passengers  bob  their  heads.  The  way 
we  went  over  those  cross-over  switches  was  a  flagrant 
violation  of  all  railroad  precedent,  but  we  got  across 
all  right,  and  I  jumped  off  and  closed  the  head 
switch. 

"  Now,  d — n  her,  let  her  come  !  "  said  Jack. 


CHASING  A   RUN-AWAY  125 

It  was  getting  dark.  We  got  off  and  walked  up 
to  the  station  to  find  out  as  many  particulars  as  we 
could.  All  the  agent  knew  was  that  she  had  passed 
the  first  station,  eight  miles  out,  in  less  than  seven 
minutes  after  it  was  discovered  that  she  had  gone  off 
on  her  own  hook.  As  she  should  have  passed  by 
some  time  ago  at  that  rate  of  going,  we  judged  that 
she  had  either  slowed  up  or  ditched  herself,  and  Jack 
and  I  were  arguing  the  advisability  of  asking  permis 
sion  to  cut  our  engine  loose,  and  run  down  on  the 
opposite  track  in  search  of  her,  when  a  chorus  of 
"  Here  she  comes !  "  from  the  crowd  of  passengers 
and  countrymen  who  had  gathered  at  the  station 
called  our  attention  to  the  track. 

It  was  a  strange  and  weird  sight  that  met  our 
gaze.  The  crowd  stood  silent  and  breathless  as  she 
passed.  She  had  slowed  down  to  about  twenty  miles 
per  hour,  and  as  she  was  hooked  up  to  within  one 
short  notch  of  the  centre,  the  steam  had  gone  down, 
and  her  cylinder  cocks  were  open,  and  there  was  no 
perceptible  exhaust  from  the  stack,  but  only  a  slight 
phit !  phit !  from  the  cylinder  cocks  as  she  silently 
loomed  up  in  the  dusk.  Big,  black,  and  indistinct 
she  crept  up  to  us,  all  hands  drawing  back  as  though 
she  was  something  uncanny.  Not  a  sound  of  whistle 
or  bell  heralded  her  approach ;  not  a  glimmer  of  light 
showed  her  the  way,  but  like  an  apparition  she  ap 
peared  to  us  for  an  instant,  and  was  gone ;  swallowed 
up  in  the  night  so  quickly  and  silently,  that  we  could 
hardly  believe  our  own  eyes. 


126      THE  GENERAL  MANAGER'S  STORY 

For  an  instant  we  stood  like  a  lot  of  dummies, 
looking  at  the  blackness  where  she  had  been;  then 
Jack  broke  the  spell  by  calling  to  the  conductor  to 
cut  our  engine  off  and  open  the  switches,  saying  that 
as  she  was  so  nearly  out  of  steam  we  could  easily 
catch  her  and  bring  her  back.  So  we  crossed  over 
and  started  after  her,  and  this  was  a  ticklish  job. 
As  we  were  backing,  our  headlight  didn't  show,  while 
she  had  no  lights  at  all,  and  no  man  could  tell  where 
she  might  stop  or  leave  the  track,  so  it  was  a  case  of 
guess.  If  we  ran  too  slow,  we  might  chase  her  for 
miles,  or  again  we  might  run  into  her  unexpectedly 
at  any  moment,  wrecking  both  tenders. 

A  brakeman  and  myself  stood  on  the  rear  of  our 
tender,  holding  lanterns  aloft,  and  watching  with  all 
our  eyes,  while  the  conductor  rode  in  my  side  of  the 
cab,  unconsciously  ringing  the  bell,  as  if  to  warn  her 
not  to  get  herself  run  down.  Across  the  long  bridge 
we  went  carefully,  around  the  curve,  and  up  a  slight 
grade,  and  —  there  she  stood,  spent,  her  picnicking 
done. 

I  jumped  aboard,  found  that  her  fire,  which  had 
been  banked  ahead,  was  nearly  out ;  her  steam  was 
down  to  forty-five  pounds,  throttle  barely  open,  and 
reverse  lever  within  a  notch  of  the  centre,  with  no 
water  in  her  lower  gauge  cock,  although  she  stood 
head  up  the  grade.  There  was  no  sign  of  a  leak, 
however,  so  we  coupled  them  together,  and  Jack 
gave  her  a  jerk  back  and  then  stopped,  whereupon 
she  showed  water  in  the  lower  gauge,  so  we  knew 
she  hadn't  run  dry  altogether. 


CHASING  A   RUN-AWAY 

We  towed  her  back  to  the  yard,  I  dumped  what 
remained  of  her  fire,  and  we  went  on. 

Now  what  do  you  suppose  caused  that  engine  to 
run  away,  endangering  not  only  the  first  train  she 
might  meet  (which  was  ours),  but  also  the  lives  of  all 
persons  and  animals  that  might  have  had  occasion  to 
cross  the  track  while  she  was  sneaking  silently  up 
the  road  ? 

A  weak  throttle  latch-spring,  which  had  been  re 
ported  over  and  over  again,  and  which  would  have 
cost  to  replace  probably  from  three  to  four  cents. 
Of  course  it  was  attended  to  at  once  after  this  most 
providential  escape  ?  Not  at  all.  I  ran  her  a  year 
afterwards  with  the  same  flimsy  spring,  and  had  a 
set  of  blocks  to  check  her  wheels,  in  order  to  prevent 
a  recurrence  of  the  adventure  while  she  was  in  my 
charge. 

Why  didn't  I  report  it?  I  did,  daily,  until  I  got 
tired  of  doing  so. 

On  the  evening  when  she  headed  us,  the  hostler 
had  cleaned  her  fire  and  backed  her  down  into  "  the 
hole  " ;  he  was  in  a  hurry,  — that  was  his  normal  condi 
tion.  He  should  have  had  two  helpers,  but  didn't 
have  any,  so  he  shut  her  off,  pulled  the  lever  up  on 
the  centre  (approximately)  and  opened  the  cylinder 
cocks,  thereby  complying  with  the  rules ;  then  he 
jumped  off  and  went  after  another  engine.  The 
weak  spring  failed  to  latch  the  throttle  shut,  it 
worked  open  a  little  way,  and  being  light,  not  yet 
coaled  or  watered,  she  crawled  up  out  of  "the  hole" 


128  THE  GENERAL  MANAGER'S   STORY 

in  spite  of  her  open  cylinder  cocks,  and  started  off 
down  the  yard.  In  cleaning  the  fire  a  spark  had 
ignited  the  waste  on  top  of  the  back  driving-box. 
The  blaze  attracted  the  attention  of  my  old  friend 
Pop,  who  was  oiling  his  engine,  and  talking  with  a 
couple  of  firemen  as  she  passed.  Thinking  that  the 
hostler  was  taking  her  out  to  the  coal  pockets,  he 
shouted,  "Hey!  yer  back  drivin'-box  is  afire."  As 
no  one  answered,  they  all  looked  carefully  at  her  and 
saw  that  she  was  alone.  A  shout  went  up,  "  That 
engine's  runnin'  away !  "  The  fireman  of  a  near-by 
switch  engine  heard  the  cry,  leaped  to  the  ground 
and  sprinted  after  her,  visions  of  promotion  no  doubt 
flitting  before  his  mind's  eye,  and  luring  him  to 
phenomenal  bursts  of  speed.  In  the  meantime  old 
96,  having  passed  all  the  switches,  and  got  upon  the 
main  track,  was  gaining  speed  with  every  revolution 
of  her  big  drivers.  The  fireman  touched  the  back 
of  her  tank  with  the  tips  of  his  outstretched  fingers, 
and  then  with  a  derisive  wiggle  of  her  drawhead  she 
glided  away. 

He  was  directly  in  front  of  the  telegraph  office 
when  he  realized  that  the  race  was  lost,  and  his 
brief  dream  of  speedy  promotion  over ;  with  a  pres 
ence  of  mind  highly  commendable,  he  rushed  into 
the  office,  told  the  operator  what  had  happened,  and 
advised  him  to  tell  Wilson,  eight  miles  away,  to 
side-track  her.  Wilson  got  the  message  all  right, 
and  as  he  had  some  little  distance  to  go  to  the 
switch,  started  on  the  run.  As  he  opened  the  door, 


CHASING  A   RUN-AWAY  I2Q 

a  meteor  shot  by,  and  glancing  up  the  line,  a  faint 
glimpse  of  the  back  end  of  a  tender  with  a  big,  yellow 
96  on  it,  disappearing  round  the  curve  in  a  cloud  of 
dust  told  him  she  had  gone. 

Two  miles  from  where  she  started  there  was  a 
turnout  around  a  sink-hole.  As  the  company  had 
either  to  buy  land  enough  from  the  farmer  to  build 
the  turnout,  or  erect  an  expensive  suspension  bridge 
over  the  hole,  he  had  shrewdly  taken  advantage  of 
their  necessity  to  charge  such  a  gold-mine  price, 
that  they  bought  what  would  barely  serve  their  pur 
pose  ;  consequently  each  end  of  the  turnout  was  such 
a  dangerously  sharp  curve  that  a  watchman  was 
stationed  there  to  show  a  slow-down  signal,  and  re 
port  all  engineers  going  over  it  at  a  faster  speed 
than  six  miles  an  hour.  As  it  was  a  hard  pull  across 
with  freight  trains,  the  engineers  would  slow  down 
a  bit  until  the  engine  took  the  entering  curve  and 
then  pull  out ;  whereupon,  "  Dinny  "  would  drop  his 
green  flag,  and  brandishing  the  red,  bawl  out  with 
true  Irish  importance,  "  I'll  repoort  you  for  disris- 
pictin'  me  red  signal,"  and  the  breeze  would  waft 
back  the  answer  to  his  outraged  dignity,  "  Ah,  go 
to " 

On  this  afternoon  Dinny  saw  "  some  felly  comin' 
like  the  divil  batin1  tan-bark."  Firm  in  the  resolu 
tion  to  flag  him,  he  jumped  to  the  middle  of  the 
track  with  his  red  flag ;  but  before  he  could  give  it 
more  than  one  desperate  wave,  he  realized  that  the 
best  place  for  him  was  in  a  little  frog-pond  behind 


130      THE  GENERAL  MANAGER'S  STORY 

his  shanty ;  with  one  bound  he  was  into  it,  and  his 
threat  to  "repoort"  was  smothered  in  the  thick 
green  slime,  as  96,  most  contemptuously  "  disris- 
pictin' "  the  red,  flew  by. 

The  fact  that  the  96  passed  over  it  in  safety  was 
such  a  vivid  object  lesson  to  the  superintendent  that 
Dinny  was  removed  from  his  important  position 
where  he  could  sass  engineers,  and  returned  to  the 
section  gang. 


CHAPTER   X 

A  CLAM  CHOWDER  —  PROMOTION  —  THE  TRAIN  MAS 
TER'S  CONUNDRUMS  —  AT  THE  THROTTLE  —  WRECK 
ING  AN  ENGINE  —  DISCHARGED — ANOTHER  APPEAL 
—  REINSTATED 

THE  engineers  had  a  clam  chowder.  It  becomes 
absolutely  necessary  sometimes  for  men  whose  daily 
lives  are  passed  under  the  strictest  discipline,  and 
in  a  calling  where  their  nerves  are  ever  at  concert 
pitch,  to  unbend,  relax  the  rigid  tension,  and  do 
things  which  would  appear  silly  under  other  circum 
stances,  or  even  vicious.  There  is  a  certain  amount 
of  the  old  Adam  in  everybody,  which  it  is  not  whole 
some  to  suppress  entirely ;  and  as  a  railroad  man's 
private  life  is  to  a  certain  extent  under  the  surveil 
lance  of  his  superiors,  it  does  him  good  to  get 
beyond  their  ken  occasionally,  and  do  just  as  he 
pleases,  even  to  the  extent  perhaps  of  getting  a  little 
drunk,  just  for  the  devilment  of  it. 

I  guess  they  had  a  pretty  good  time,  though  all 
that  we  outsiders  could  find  out  about  it  was  that 
which  was  dropped  in  our  hearing,  when  they  re 
viewed  their  escapades. 

To  one  poor  fellow,  however,  it  was  a  most  serious 
event,  as  it  finally  cost  him  his  life.  He  was  climbing 


132  THE  GENERAL  MANAGER'S  STORY 

a  fruit  tree,  when  one  of  the  others,  in  the  exuber 
ance  of  his  animal  spirits,  caught  up  an  old  piece  of 
board  and  gave  him  a  mighty  slap  with  it  on  the 
part  of  his  anatomy  where  his  trousers  fitted  tight 
est.  With  a  yell  of  rage  and  pain  the  victim,  amid 
the  uproarious  laughter  of  his  comrades,  dropped 
from  the  tree  and  chased  his  tormentor  about  the 
place,  which,  as  they  were  both  three-hundred-pound 
men,  and  the  day  was  fearfully  hot,  proved  a  first- 
class  diversion  to  the  crowd.  After  evening  the 
matter  up  with  the  fellow  who  hit  him,  somebody 
called  his  attention  to  the  fact  that  his  light  trousers 
were  stained  with  blood.  An  investigation  showed 
that  the  piece  of  board  contained  a  short,  rusty  nail 
which  had  penetrated  the  skin,  but  owing  to  the 
greater  pain  caused  by  the  blow,  it  had  not  been 
noticed  at  the  time.  Nothing  was  thought  of  it, 
but  after  making  one  trip  on  his  engine  he  laid  off 
lame,  and  died  of  blood-poisoning  inside  of  a  week. 
We  had  been  having  very  poor  coal;  nearly  all 
trains  were  losing  some  time,  and  the  master  me 
chanic  had  firemen  "on  the  carpet"  daily,  jacking 
them  up  for  a  week  or  ten  days  on  account  of  their 
inability  to  make  steam  with  material  which,  however 
suitable  for  roadbed  ballast,  was  never  intended  by 
the  Almighty  for  fuel.  Owing  to  the  expert  skill 
of  my  engineer,  I  had  not  yet  been  put  through  that 
ordeal ;  we  had  managed  to  crawl  in  on  time  every 
day,  but  it  was  all  we  could  do,  an  extra  car  or  a 
hard-hauling  train  would  have  surely  dumped  us. 


AT  THE  THROTTLE  133 

It  was  about  a  week  after  the  funeral  of  the  unfor 
tunate  engineer,  that  we  made  our  first  break,  and  it 
was  a  bad  one.  I  couldn't  keep  her  hot  to  save  my 
soul.  Jack  favored  her,  and  helped  me  all  he  could  ; 
but  it  was  no  use,  she  would  lag  in  spite  of  all  I 
could  do.  I  was  ashamed,  and  mad  clean  through, 
for  we  dropped  twenty  minutes. 

Twenty  minutes  on  the  limited,  and  every  minute 
of  it  for  the  want  of  steam !  I  foresaw  a  very  inter 
esting  interview  with  the  master  mechanic  when  I 
should  get  back ;  my  pride  was  hurt.  I  had  been  the 
only  fireman  so  far  who  had  not  "  dropped  his  bun 
dle,"  and  now  I  had  done  worse  than  any  of  them. 
I  feared  that  I  should  be  taken  off  the  train  alto 
gether  ;  suspended  I  knew  I  should  be,  possibly  for 
thirty  days.  So  it  was  with  a  heavy  heart  that  I 
fired  the  old  engine  back,  for  I  knew  that  excuses, 
however  valid,  didn't  go  with  the  "old  man,"  his 
invariable  reply  to  all  such  being,  "  That  don't  make 
any  difference."  I  believe  he  would  have  said  that 
if  you  had  told  him  that  the  reason  you  didn't  make 
time  was  because  you  lost  all  the  wheels  off  the 
engine,  and  the  way  he  said  it  was  extremely  aggra 
vating  ;  for  he  was  boss,  and  it  would  do  no  good  to 
talk  back. 

When  we  got  to  the  round-house,  my  heart  sank 
as  I  saw  the  foreman  approaching  me,  looking  grave, 
as  though  he  didn't  half  like  the  errand  he  was  on ; 
for  I  had  always  been  rather  a  favorite  with  him,  and 
an  example  to  be  held  up  to  the  other  firemen. 


134  THE  GENERAL  MANAGER'S   STORY 

"The  old  man  wants  to  see  you  in  the  office," 
said  he. 

"All  right." 

And  now  that  my  worst  fears  were  confirmed  I 
felt  my  courage  return,  and  I  resolved  not  to  submit  to 
any  of  his  sneering  remarks.  He  could  jack  me  up  — 
that  was  his  privilege ;  but  if  he  made  any  disparaging 
comments,  as  he  usually  did  in  such  cases,  I  vowed  to 
myself  that  I'd  talk  United  States  to  him  if  I  lost  my 
job  by  it ;  so  putting  on  as  bold  a  front  as  I  could,  I 
stepped  over  to  the  office. 

He  was  standing  with  his  back  to  me,  looking  out 
the  window  when  I  entered,  but  turned  at  once,  and 
said,  — 

"Well,  sir?" 

I  told  him  I  had  been  ordered  to  report  to  him. 

"  Oh,  yes,"  said  he ;  "  freight  is  picking  up  now, 
and  since  Mr.  Kimball's  death  we  are  rather  short 
handed  ;  do  you  think  you  can  run  an  engine  ? " 

Heavens  and  earth,  promotion !  This  was  an  agree 
able  surprise,  with  a  vengeance.  I  knew  the  stereo 
typed  question,  "Do  you  think  you  can  run  an 
engine  ? "  I  had  heard  so  many  of  the  boys  tell 
of  it  as  part  of  their  experience  when  they  were 
promoted,  and  I  knew,  too,  the  stereotyped  answer : 
"I  dunno,  sir;  I  never  tried."  I  had  always  promised 
myself  that  when  it  came  my  turn  to  answer  the 
all-important  question  I  wouldn't  say  that  anyhow  ;  so 
after  catching  my  breath  a  bit,  I  answered  as  bold  as 
brass,  "  Yes,  sir." 


AT  THE  THROTTLE  135 

"Yes,  I  have  no  doubt  that  you  can;  I've  had  my 
eye  on  you  ever  since  you  came  here,  and  with  one 
or  two  exceptions  your  conduct  has  been  very  satis 
factory." 

He  then  proceeded  to  examine  me  on  the  locomo 
tive  :  as  to  how  it  was  constructed,  and  what  I  would 
do  in  various  emergencies,  the  idea  being  to  show 
how  in  case  of  a  breakdown  I  would  temporarily 
repair  my  engine,  so  as  to  get  the  train  home  with 
as  little  delay  to  the  traffic  of  the  road  as  possible; 
and  although  he  suggested  several  mishaps,  the  like 
of  which  I  had  never  heard  discussed  before,  I  kept 
my  wits  about  me,  and  satisfied  him  that  I  was  to 
be  trusted.  He  gave  me  some  advice  concerning  my 
deportment  towards  the  employees  in  the  other  de 
partments  of  the  service,  assured  me  that  as  long  as 
I  was  right  he  would  stand  by  me,  —  which  I  am 
afraid  made  me  open  my  eyes  rather  widely,  for 
nobody  ever  heard  of  him  standing  by  his  men,  — 
and  then  handing  me  a  note  to  the  train  master,  told 
me  to  go  and  pass  his  examination  and  hurry  back, 
"For,"  said  he,  "I  shall  want  you  to  go  out  to-night." 

The  train  master  tangled  me  up  a  little  once  or 
twice  with  his  conundrums,  and  I  feared  I  wasn't  mak 
ing  a  very  good  showing  in  answer  to  the  question, 
what  I  would  do  if,  when  running  a  first-class  train  on 
a  single-track  branch,  I  had  orders  to  meet  and  pass 
another  first-class  train  at  the  junction  of  the  double- 
track  main  line,  and  on  arriving  there,  found  that  she 
had  not  yet  arrived. 


136  THE  GENERAL  MANAGER'S   STORY 

I  answered  that  I  would  wait  until  she  did. 

"  Suppose  she  was  an  hour  late  ? " 

"That's  none  of  my  business." 

"  What !  would  you  hold  those  passengers  there 
an  hour  with  a  double  track  ahead  of  you  ? " 

I  wasn't  quite  sure,  but  answered  desperately, 
"  Certainly,  if  I  had  orders  to  wait  there." 

He  brought  down  his  fist  with  a  bang  on  the  table, 
and  roared  out,  "  That's  right ;  I  want  you  always  to 
remember  that  when  an  order  is  given  to  you,  it's 
good  until  fulfilled,  and  is  to  be  obeyed.  I'll  run 
the  trains  from  here  —  that's  what  I'm  hired  for;  I 
won't  have  conductors  and  engineers  running  trains. 

"  Now  suppose  you  was  running  a  first-class  train, 
and  you  got  a  regardless  order  to  run  the  opposite 
track  to  the  next  station,  what  would  you  do  when 
you  got  there  ? " 

"  Cross  back  again  and  proceed  on  my  rights." 

"What  rights?" 

"My  time-table  rights." 

"  Good  agin !  By  G — ,  some  o'  those  fellers  would 
wait  there  twenty-four  hours  for  an  order  to  put  'em 
on  the  time  table." 

He  kept  this  kind  of  thing  up  for  a  good  hour, 
sometimes  puzzling  me  considerably,  but  on  the 
whole,  I  didn't  make  any  very  bad  breaks.  At  last 
looking  at  his  watch,  he  said,  "  H — 1 !  it's  dinner  time. 
You  can  tell  Mr.  Seely  that  I'm  satisfied." 

At  last !  I  had  reached  the  goal  for  which  I  had 
toiled  so  long,  and  so  hard ;  and  when  I  went  back, 


AT  THE  THROTTLE  137 

reported  to  Mr.  Seely,  and  got  orders  to  take  engine 
80  at  9  P.M.,  I  was  the  proudest  and  happiest  young 
fellow  in  the  state. 

The  position  of  locomotive  engineer  is  a  very 
peculiar  one,  calling  for  widely  different  qualities. 
He  must  be  brave  to  recklessness  when  the  occasion 
demands  it,  and  yet  extremely  careful,  both  of  the 
machine  under  his  control,  and  as  to  the  handling 
of  his  train  ;  for  while  he  will  be  held  strictly  account 
able  for  the  slightest  damage  caused  either  by 
carelessness  or  ignorance  on  his  part,  there  are  cir 
cumstances  under  which  the  company  will  justify 
him  in  wilfully  wrecking  the  machine,  to  avoid 
greater  damage.  As  his  judgment  must  be  formed 
instantly,  and  amid  the  most  exciting  surroundings, 
and  afterwards  put  to  the  severe  test  of  comparison 
with  some  other  method  which  the  master  mechanic 
has  thought  out  in  the  leisure  of  his  cushioned  office 
chair,  it  can  be  seen  that  rare  attainments  must  be 
possessed  by  the  man  on  "the  head  end  "  if  he  would 
hold  his  job.  Nor  is  this  by  any  means  all.  He  is 
expected  to  have  and  to  exercise  better  judgment 
than  the  other  employees  ;  and  as  they  have  no  orders 
to  submit  to  his  will,  friction  arises,  he  is  d — d  for 
a  crank,  and  when  an  accident  occurs,  conductors, 
brakemen,  and  switchmen  all  unite  to  swear  the 
blame  on  the  unfortunate  engineer,  who  being  in  the 
minority,  is  lucky  indeed  if  he  escapes  discharge. 

As  their  ranks  are  recruited  mostly  from  the 
farmers'  boys  along  the  line,  with  no  special  aptitude 


138      THE  GENERAL  MANAGER'S  STORY 

for  the  business,  and  who  learn  it  by  passing  an 
apprenticeship  similar  to  mine,  and  as  the  promoted 
men  get  at  first  the  most  difficult  jobs  for  a  beginner, 
switching  in  crowded  yards,  hauling  wildcat  freight, 
and  doing  all  sorts  of  odd  jobs,  with  the  worst  old- 
worn-out  scrap-heaps  of  engines  in  the  company's 
possession,  what  wonder  that  so  many  young  run 
ners,  whose  mishaps  are  all  attributed  to  their  incom- 
petency,  are  discharged,  when  if  the  same  accident 
had  happened  to  an  experienced  man,  but  little 
notice  would  have  been  taken,  or  at  least  his  explana 
tion  would  have  carried  some  weight. 

Then,  again,  the  very  fact  that  he  is  known  to  be 
a  young  runner  causes  him  to  be  the  recipient  of  an 
immense  amount  of  worthless  advice  from  everybody, 
even  his  own  fireman.  If  he  is  weak  enough  to  act 
upon  the  advice  of  others,  because  he  thinks  they 
may  know  better  than  he  does,  and  gets  into  trouble, 
he  will  find  that  no  one  has  any  sympathy  for  his 
case,  least  of  all  the  super.  "  You  had  no  business 
to  do  it,  no  matter  who  advised  you  to,  if  you  didn't 
think  it  was  right,"  he  is  told. 

If,  on  the  other  hand,  he  is  stiff,  and  tells  his 
would-be  advisers  that  he  is  competent  to  judge  for 
himself,  he  makes  enemies,  so  that  when  the  time 
comes  that  two  heads  would  be  better  than  one,  he 
is  told,  "Do  as  you  d — d  please ;  you  know  it  all." 

I  will  illustrate  right  here  what  I  have  said  about 
an  engineer  being  sustained  in  wilfully  damaging  his 
engine.  It  was  the  first  winter  after  I  was  promoted  ; 


AT  THE  THROTTLE  139 

there  had  been  a  heavy  fall  of  snow,  and  I  was 
ordered  to  couple  in  ahead  of  a  west-bound  passenger 
train,  to  help  the  regular  engine  drag  her  through 
the  big  drifts.  I  had  a  brand-new  engine  right  out 
of  the  shop.  It  is  desired  that  a  locomotive's  driving- 
wheel  tires  shall  make  if  possible  a  hundred  thousand 
miles  before  they  are  worn  out.  They  become 
grooved  by  the  wear  on  the  rails,  requiring  to  be 
turned  off  in  the  lathe  twice,  and  occasionally  three 
times.  As  this  turning-off  process  is  equivalent  to 
many  miles  of  legitimate  wear,  it  is  to  be  avoided  as 
long  as  possible,  and  as  there  is  always  rivalry  be 
tween  the  division  master  mechanics,  the  engineer 
who  reduces  the  life  of  a  set  of  tires  is  not  to  be 
envied.  The  division  superintendent  had  the  snow- 
plough  out,  and  as  it  was  working  on  our  track,  we 
got  an  order  to  run  on  the  east-bound  track  to  the 
next  station,  regardless  of  all  opposing  trains,  which 
means  that  the  track  is  clear  for  us.  The  snow- 
plough  crew  had  a  flag  out  to  protect  themselves ;  for 
although  they  knew  the  operator  had  orders  not  to 
let  anything  come,  still  you  are  always  supposed  to 
protect  yourself.  As  I  was  on  the  head  engine,  I 
had  all  the  looking  out  to  do,  the  other  fellow  having 
his  windows  closed  to  keep  out  the  snow,  so  that  he 
could  ride  along  warm  and  comfortable. 

I  could  hardly  see  anything  myself,  for  the  drifting 
snow  made  it  impossible  to  keep  one's  eyes  open 
with  the  head  out,  and  if  I  closed  my  windows,  they 
instantly  became  coated  with  it.  I  managed  to  see 


140      THE  GENERAL  MANAGER'S  STORY 

most  of  the  whistling-posts,  however,  and  if  I  had 
any  doubts  about  having  passed  one,  I  blew  the 
crossing  signal  anyway.  I  told  the  fireman  to  keep 
as  good  a  lookout  on  his  side  as  possible ;  for,  as  the 
cab  and  boiler  sheltered  him,  he  could  at  least  look 
out  without  closing  his  eyes. 

It  seems  that  the  flagman  heard  me  blow  for  a 
road  crossing,  and  as  all  the  landmarks  were  oblit 
erated  by  snow,  he  was  unable  to  say  on  which  track 
we  were  coming,  so,  to  be  on  the  safe  side  he  flagged 
us  anyway ;  the  snow  not  being  so  very  deep  here, 
we  were  coming  at  a  pretty  good  gait,  and  when  he 
saw  that  the  engines  continued  to  use  steam,  he 
realized  that  the  blinding  snow  made  his  signal  invis 
ible  to  the  engineer,  and  jumped  to  the  other  side  of 
the  track,  waving  his  flag  frantically,  and  yelling  at 
the  top  of  his  voice.  My  fireman  happening  just 
then  to  glance  ahead,  saw  his  gymnastics,  and  judg 
ing  that  collision  must  be  imminent,  yelled  "Whoa!" 
and  jumped  off. 

As  I  could  see  nothing,  I  shut  off,  blew  "  brakes  " 
to  the  other  engineer,  applied  my  own,  and  then  as  he 
had  not  heard  me,  and  was  still  using  steam,  shoving 
me  into  I  knew  not  what,  I  whistled  to  him  again, 
reversed  and  gave  her  sand,  he  still  shoving  me 
ahead  as  hard  as  he  could. 

My  driver-brake  being  set,  and  engine  reversed,  the 
big  wheels  were  held  stationary  as  in  a  vise,  while 
she  skated,  grating  and  grinding  along  on  the  sanded 
rails.  I  knew  I  was  playing  havoc  with  those  new 


We  found  grooves  nearly  a  quarter  of  an  inch  deep."  —  p.  141 


AT  THE  THROTTLE  14! 

tires ;  but  what  could  I  do  ?  I  expected  every  in 
stant  to  have  the  end  of  a  car  come  smashing  into 
my  cab.  Again  and  again  I  blew  the  brake  signal ; 
the  grade  was  in  our  favor,  so  that  my  partner  was 
able  to  keep  them  going  in  spite  of  me,  and  he 
shoved  the  whole  business  clear  by  the  snow-plough. 
Her  crew  hearing  my  signals,  and  seeing  my  wheels 
locked,  managed  to  attract  his  attention,  and  at  last 
we  got  stopped. 

The  superintendent  climbed  into  my  cab,  and  asked 
me  if  that  fellow  flagged  me.  I  told  him  he  did,  and 
explained  the  whole  affair.  He  understood,  said, 
"  All  right ;  there's  no  harm  done.  Go  on."  But  I 
told  him  I  believed  there  had  been  a  good  deal  of 
harm  done,  and  explained  what  I  had  done. 

"Blow  'off  brakes'  and  turn  her  over,"  said  he, 
"and  let's  see  how  she  goes." 

I  did  so,  and  you  would  have  sworn  that  she  had 
square  wheels.  When  she  came  to  the  "flat  spots  " 
she  seemed  to  drop  a  foot,  and  come  down  on  the 
rails  like  a  house  falling  over;  and  then  when  she 
went  over  them,  she  would  raise  herself  bodily  again 
as  she  came  up  on  to  the  round  surface. 

"  Holy  Moses  ! "  said  the  superintendent.  "  Stop, 
and  let's  get  down  and  look  at  these  tires." 

We  found  grooves  nearly  a  quarter  of  an  inch  deep 
and  six  or  seven  inches  long  in  them.  After  a  little 
consultation  the  superintendent  ordered  us  to  go  on 
slowly  to  a  junction  ten  miles  ahead,  where  another 
engine  could  be  procured  to  help  the  train,  while  I 
should  ask  for  orders  to  dead-head  home. 


142  THE  GENERAL  MANAGER'S   STORY 

"  And  don't  you  run  this  train  over  six  miles  an 
hour,"  said  he,  "  or  you'll  break  all  the  rails  and  knock 
down  all  the  bridges  between  here  and  M ." 

I  ventured  to  remark  that  I  supposed  I  was  done. 

"  What  for  ? "  said  he,  looking  at  me,  in  evident 
surprise. 

"  For  gouging  those  new  ties,"  said  I. 

"  No,  sir ;  you're  not  done  for  that.  You  got  a 
flag,  didn't  you  ? " 

"Yes,  sir." 

"Well,  let  me  tell  you  one  thing.  While  I'm 
superintendent  of  this  division,  if  you  ever  fail  to 
use  every  means  in  your  power  to  stop  when  you 
are  flagged,  I'll  discharge  you.  These  engines  are  to 
be  used  in  two  ways  —  to  haul  the  trains  and  to  help 
stop  them  when  necessary.  I  wouldn't  care  if  you'd 
tied  a  hard  knot  in  her,  as  long  as  it  was  done  in  an 
effort  to  stop  when  flagged.  Go  on  now,  an'  get  out 
o'  here." 

My  fireman  having  returned,  we  started  again,  and 
of  all  the  tough  riding  I  ever  did,  the  worst  was  done 
on  that  engine  before  I  got  her  back  to  the  yard. 
I  used  all  the  spare  nuts  and  bolts  that  we  had  on 
both  engines,  replacing  what  she  shook  out  and  broke 

off  before  we  got  to  M .  Then  I  gathered  up  all 

I  could  find  in  the  round-house,  and  the  fireman  and 
I  got  under  her  and  riveted  all  the  bolts  down  so  the 
nuts  couldn't  get  off,  and  having  received  orders  to 
return  "  wild,"  we  started.  It  was  only  thirty  miles, 
but  it  was  the  longest  and  worst  ride  by  all  odds 


AT  THE  THROTTLE  143 

that  I  ever  experienced ;  and  I  don't  believe  there 
are  a  dozen  railroad  men  in  the  country  that  ever 
went  through  a  similar  experience  —  the  antics  that 
she  cut  up  when  coupled  to  the  train  were  not  a 
mark  to  her  actions  now. 

We  tied  the  bell  fast  "  on  the  centre."  Before  we 
had  gone  a  mile,  the  sand-box  cover  left  us  some 
where,  and  before  we  had  covered  half  the  distance, 
the  stack  and  head  lamp  were  both  tied  fast  on  the 
back  of  the  tender.  The  whistle  pipe  broke  short 
off  in  the  dome,  and  before  I  got  the  hole  plugged 
with  a  piece  of  broomstick,  she  had  blown  her  steam 
down  to  thirty  pounds ;  and  as  the  injector  would 
only  work  when  standing  still,  I  delayed  a  couple  of 
passenger  trains  before  I  was  able  to  start  again. 
The  pilot  worked  loose,  stuck  its  nose  into  a  tie,  and 
crumbled  up.  It  was  only  under  the  most  favorable 
circumstances  that  I  dared  leave  one  siding  to  run 
for  another.  Every  time  she  lit  on  her  grooves,  the 
tender  would  ram  the  engine  so  spitefully  that  I 
feared  she  would  shake  all  the  coal  out  of  the  gang 
ways  before  we  got  home,  for  the  fireman  was  about 
as  badly  used  up  as  I  was,  and  hadn't  ambition 
enough  to  try  to  keep  it  back. 

We  were  all  night  on  the  road,  and  when  we  came 
pounding  and  banging  into  the  yard  at  ten  o'clock 
the  next  day,  a  reception  committee,  composed  of 
the  master  mechanic  and  every  man  in  the  depart 
ment  under  him,  who  could  possibly  get  there,  were 
awaiting  our  arrival. 


144  THE  GENERAL  MANAGER'S  STORY 

She  was  a  beautiful  sight !  No  stack,  no  pilot,  no 
head  lamp,  the  wreck  of  the  cab  shackling  about  with 
every  thump  like  a  barrel  with  only  one  hoop,  the 
running  gear  a  mass  of  grease  and  dirt,  the  paint, 
one  dome,  sand-box,  and  cab  burned  off,  and  we  two 
human  wrecks  riding  her.  She  was  a  railroad  Flying 
Dutchman,  and  only  the  day  before  she  had  been 
brand  new,  glorious  in  gold  leaf  and  brilliant  varnish, 
glittering  brass,  and  Russia  iron. 

Within  ten  feet  of  where  I  intended  to  stop,  the 
coupling-pin  of  the  tender  broke,  and  on  her  next 
leap  ahead  she  tore  loose  from  safety-chain  and  fuel- 
boxes,  leaving  it  behind.  I  got  down  the  best  way 
I  could;  for  besides  being  killed,  I  was  starved  to 
death ;  and  telling  the  round-house  fireman  he  had 
better  get  the  fire  out  of  her,  as  the  water  was  rather 
low  in  the  boiler,  I  started  to  look  her  over,  but 
seeing  a  broken  equalizer,  and  immediately  after 
wards  a  break  in  the  frame,  I  gave  it  up,  and  simply 
wrote  on  the  slip,  "  Engine  207  wants  to  go  in  the 
back  shop,"  filed  my  report,  and  went  home.  I 
stayed  home  two  days,  recuperating,  and  when  I  re 
turned,  I  found  an  order  in  the  engineer's  box  for 
me  to  call  at  the  office  and  get  my  time. 

I  met  the  master  mechanic  coming  out  as  I  was 
going  in.  He  didn't  even  look  at  me,  but  I  called 
him  by  name,  and  asked  why  I  was  discharged. 
He  stopped,  looked  at  me  a  moment  in  superlative 
contempt,  and  said,  — 

"  I  don't   know,  I'm  sure.     I  don't  see  how  this 


"  She  was  a  beautiful  sight !     No  stack,  no  pilot, 
no  head  lamp."  — p.  144. 


AT  THE  THROTTLE  145 

company  can  afford  to   dispense  with  the   services 
of  such  a  valuable  man  as  you  are." 

I  said  no  more  to  him,  but  went  at  once  to  the 
superintendent's  office.  Fortunately,  I  found  him 
in,  and,  for  a  wonder,  unoccupied.  When  I  pre-. 
sented  myself,  he  looked  up  inquiringly,  and  without 
a  word  I  laid  the  bill  of  my  time  on  his  desk.  He 
looked  at  it,  and  said,  "Well,  what's  wrong  with 
this  ?  Isn't  your  account  all  right  ?  " 

"Oho!"  thought  I,  "he  sings  a  different  tune 
from  what  he  did  the  other  day."  So  I  reminded 
him  that  he  had  promised  me  that  I  should  not  be 
discharged  for  what  I  had  done. 

"  I  don't  know  that  you  are  discharged  for  that," 
said  he,  coldly,  as  he  handed-  me  back  my  bill ;  "  what 
did  Mr.  Seely  say  he  discharged  you  for  ? " 

I  told  him  the  answer  Mr.  Seely  had  made  to  my 
request  for  information,  and  he  promised  to  inquire 
into  it,  saying  that  he  would  be  as  good  as  his  word, 
and  that  I  should  not  be  discharged  on  that  account. 
I  asked  him  when  I  might  expect  to  hear  from  him, 
and  he  said  he  couldn't  tell,  was  very  busy  just  now, 
but  as  soon  as  he  had  time. 

I  waited  in  suspense  three  weeks,  and  as  it  would 
soon  be  pay-day,  I  thought  I  had  better  find  out  if 
I  was  to  sign  the  pay-roll  for  the  last  time  or  not. 
So  again  I  called  on  the  gentleman,  and  he  told  me, 
with  a  surprised  look,  that  he  had  sanctioned  my 
discharge  ten  days  ago.  He  said  the  master  me 
chanic  reported  that  I  brought  the  engine  in  a  total 


146  THE  GENERAL  MANAGER'S   STORY 

wreck,  and  absented  myself  two  days  without  leave, 
all  of  which  I  was  obliged  to  admit ;  and  as  he  con 
sidered  that  sufficient,  I  was  graciously  allowed  to 
depart,  with  my  hopes  and  aspirations  suffering  from 
a  severe  frost. 

As  I  was  walking  down  the  office  stairs,  I  con 
trasted  the  superintendent's  and  master  mechanic's 
manners  with  those  of  the  general  manager.  He 
was  all  kindness  and  geniality,  seemed  to  try  to 
make  things  as  pleasant  for  us  as  possible,  talked 
to  us,  and  treated  us  as  though  we  were  his  equals 
and  personal  friends,  whereas  they  seemed  always 
to  think  we  were  their  worst  enemies.  All  at  once 
I  remembered  that  he  had  said  to  us,  "  Employees 
shall  certainly  have  the  right  of  appeal." 

I  had  appealed  to  him  once,  and  got  justice ;  why 
not  try  it  again  ?  As  before,  I  had  all  to  gain,  and 
nothing  to  lose,  and  I  would  do  it.  I  went  to  his  office 
at  once,  and  learned  that  he  was  out  of  town,  had 
gone  east,  and  was  not  expected  back  for  a  week  or 
ten  days.  All  right,  I  could  wait ;  I  had  always  saved 
part  of  my  wages,  so  I  had  no  fear  of  getting  "  hard 
up."  To  be  sure,  I  would  be  paid  off  in  the  mean 
time,  and  in  accepting  my  pay  would  in  a  certain 
sense  acknowledge  my  discharge  and  close  the  case ; 
but  I  knew  the  general  manager  was  all-powerful, 
and  could,  if  he  chose,  reopen  it  at  any  time. 

I  didn't  idle  away  the  time,  however ;  for  I  knew 
it  would  be  better  for  me  to  obtain  employment  else 
where,  if  possible ;  but  though  I  went  the  rounds  of 


AT  THE  THROTTLE  147 

all  the  roads,  I  only  found  two  that  had  the  least 
idea  of  hiring  any  engineers,  and  when  they  learned 
that  I  had  not  been  running  a  year,  and  was  already 
discharged,  their  interest  suddenly  collapsed  like  a 
worn-out  boiler  tube,  so  that  at  the  expiration  of 
ten  days  I  found  myself  still  in  undisturbed  pos 
session  of  my  liberty. 

Again  I  called  at  the  general  manager's  office, 
learned  that  he  had  returned  the  day  before,  passed 
through  the  inquisition  in  the  shape  of  the  old  gentle 
man  in  the  outer  office,  in  the  course  of  which  he 
drew  from  me  the  fact  that  I  was  discharged,  and 
was  seeking  reinstatement.  He  asked  me  what  I 
expected  the  general  manager  to  do,  and  volunteered 
the  opinion  that  he  didn't  see  how  that  gentleman 
could  interfere,  as  the  division  superintendent  had 
sanctioned  the  matter.  He  got  me  so  out  of  pa 
tience  that  I  was  in  the  very  act  of  giving  him  a 
rude  answer,  when  I  heard  a  quick,  elastic  step  com 
ing  from  the  corridor,  and  turning,  faced  the  general 
manager  himself,  —  big,  breezy,  and  genial.  He  saw 
me  at  once,  came  forward  with  his  hand  extended, 

and  a  hearty  "  Ah  !  good-morning,  Mr.  M .    Fine 

morning ;  what  can  I  do  for  you  ?     Any  one  to  see 
me,  Stillman  ? "  to  the  secretary. 
"No  one  but  this  gentleman,  sir." 

"  Very  well ;  come  inside,  Mr.  M " 

As  I  followed  him  into  his  private  office,  I  won 
dered  how  in  the  world  he  managed  to  remember  my 
name ;  he  had  never  seen  me  but  once  in  his  life, 


148      THE  GENERAL  MANAGER'S  STORY 

and  that  was  nearly  three  years  ago.  As  I  have 
since  acquired  the  trick  myself,  it  no  longer  seems 
marvellous. 

After  we  were  seated,  I  told  him  as  rapidly  and 
clearly  as  I  could  the  whole  story.  He  listened 
carefully  without  once  interrupting,  and  when  I  had 
finished,  he  asked  me  what  I  wanted  him  to  do.  I 
was  rather  nonplussed  at  that ;  for  I  had  hoped  he 
would  offer  to  do  something  himself,  so  I  answered 
somewhat  sheepishly,  that  I  didn't  think  I  ought  to 
be  discharged,  as  I  didn't  consider  myself  to  blame 
for  what  had  happened. 

"No,"  said  he,  "from  your  standpoint  you  cer 
tainly  are  not ;  but  I  suppose  you  know  the  old  say 
ing  that  one  story  is  good  until  another  is  told.  Not 
that  I  doubt  your  statement  for  a  moment ;  but  you 
know  your  conception  of  the  affair  is  apt  to  be 
colored  by  your  interest ;  it  certainly  is  a  very  seri 
ous  matter  for  an  engineer  to  take  out  a  brand-new 
engine,  and  bring  her  back  wrecked ;  still,  it  is  quite 
within  the  bounds  of  possibility  that  you  are  not 
altogether  to  blame.  I  will  look  over  the  master 
mechanic's  and  superintendent's  reports ;  and  if  I 
find  that  they  do  not  conflict  materially  with  your 
story,  you  will  hear  from  me,  probably  through  one 
or  the  other  of  them.  Will  that  be  satisfactory  ? " 

Considering  that  it  was  all  I  had  hoped  to  ac 
complish,  I  told  him  that  it  would  indeed ;  bade  him 
good-bye,  and  withdrew,  hope  once  more  springing 
in  my  breast. 


AT  THE  THROTTLE  149 

Two  days  later  on  returning  to  the  boarding-house 
for  dinner,  I  was  informed  that  the  caller  had  left 
word  that  the  master  mechanic  wished  to  see  me 
in  his  office,  so  down  I  went,  wondering  what  the 
verdict  would  be. 

"Well,  sir/'  said  he  when  I  entered,  "have  you 
got  rested?" 

"Yes,  sir." 

"  Do  you  think  you  can  manage  now  to  double  the 
division  with  one  engine  ?  " 

"Well,  yes,  sir,  except  under  very  extraordinary 
circumstances." 

"  Better  not  have  any  more  extraordinary  circum 
stances  for  a  while ;  they  don't  pay.  I  don't  believe 
you  are  any  richer  for  the  last  one,  and  I  know  the 
company  isn't.  And  now  a  word  of  advice:  when 
you  get  in  a  tight  place,  and  have  an  engine  with  a 
power  brake,  don't  reverse,  after  setting  your  brake ; 
or  if  you  think  she  will  hold  more  with  the  lever 
than  with  the  brake,  reverse  her,  and  release  your 
brake ;  when  you  have  done  either,  you  have  done  all 
that  you  can  do,  and  sliding  the  wheels  don't  do  any 
good,  but  just  the  reverse.  I  had  to  load  that  engine 
on  a  flat  car,  and  send  her  to  the  central  shop. 
Her  frame  was  broken  in  three  places,  all  the  springs 
were  gone,  and  boxes  and  journals  totally  ruined.  I 
never  saw  an  engine  come  out  of  a  wreck  so  com 
pletely  worn  out :  you  have  already  cost  this  com 
pany  more  than  the  oldest  engineer  in  the  employ. 
You  can  go  out  to  the  round-house,  and  report  your 
self  ready  to  go  to  work  now." 


150      THE  GENERAL  MANAGER'S  STORY 

The  next  day,  to  the  unbounded  astonishment  of 
all  hands,  my  name  was  seen  on  the  blackboard 
"second-out,"  and  whenever  I  met  any  of  the  boys 
it  was,  "  Hey,  I  thought  you  were  discharged,"  or 
"  Say,  old  man,  how  did  ye  do  it  ?  Give  us  a  leaf  out 
o'  yer  book,  will  ye  ? "  But  I  kept  my  own  counsel, 
and  to  this  day  I  presume  that  many  of  them  think 
I  was  related  to  the  president  or  some  influential 
stockholder. 


CHAPTER   XI 

BROKE  IN  TWO  —  DOWN  HILL  FOR  LIFE  OR  DEATH  — 
CABOOSE  JUMPS  A  PRECIPICE  — A  WRECK  —  RESULT 
OF  A  MORNING'S  NAP  —  THE  NEW  SUPER  —  GIT  OUT 
O'  HERE — A  NEGLECTED  ARCH 

BEING  in  the  freight  service,  I  got  into  those  tight 
places,  and  experienced  those  hair-raising  accidents, 
which  are  the  particular  property  of  freight  crews. 
For  the  passenger  trains  run  on  schedule  time;  the 
road  is  theirs  on  their  time ;  their  engines  and  cars 
receive  the  most  careful  attention;  station  agents, 
switchmen,  telegraph  operators,  track-gangs,  and 
watchmen,  and  in  fact,  all  employees,  know  when 
they  are  due,  and  look  out  for  them  —  for  to  de 
lay  a  passenger  train  for  any  cause  is  a  serious 
offence ;  and  then,  too,  the  superintendent  is  apt  to 
be  riding  on  any  train,  and  each  and  every  employee, 
no  matter  how  lowly  his  position,  firmly  believes  that 
the  "  super  "  cannot  possibly  ride  over  the  road  with 
out  seeing  him  and  noting  just  how  he  is  performing 
his  duties,  so  that  the  passenger  trains  are  well  looked 
out  for,  and  it  is  very  seldom  that  anything  happens 
to  them. 

But  the  poor  fellows  on  freight, —  they  are  the 
ones  that  get  all  the  hard  knocks.  Obliged  to  pick 


152      THE  GENERAL  MANAGER'S  STORY 

their  way  over  the  road  between  trains,  they  have  no 
rights  at  all ;  they  must  get  to  their  destination  as 
soon  as  possible,  or  there  is  trouble ;  but  they  must 
not  exceed  the  regular  schedule  of  freight-train 
speed,  no  matter  how  good  a  chance  they  may  have 
to  do  so,  they  must  not  run  by  slow  signals  faster 
than  the  rules  allow,  nor  through  yards,  nor  go  by 
a  passenger  train  at  a  station  even  on  the  <^side; 
and,  over  and  above  all  things,  they  must  never  get 
themselves,  or  allow  themselves  to  be  put,  in  such  a 
position  that  they  will  have  to  flag  a  passenger  train 
even  for  an  instant.  Track  repair  men  and  draw 
bridge  tenders  all  commence  to  work  as  soon  as  the 
passenger  train  has  gone,  when  along  comes  a  poor 
fellow  on  a  freight  who  has  been  twenty-four  hours 
on  the  road,  and  is  trying  to  get  home.  He  has 
barely  time  enough  to  get  to  the  next  siding  to  clear 
the  following  passenger  train,  and  here's  a  red  flag. 

"What's  the  matter?" 

"  Section  foreman's  got  a  rail  up,"  or  "  Drawbridge 
is  open,"  or  "Construction  train  is  ploughing  off  a 
load  of  gravel,"  or  in  fact  anything;  consequently 
the  freight,  being  unable  to  go,  delays  the  passenger, 
the  freight  engineer  is  called  to  the  super's  office,  all 
his  explanations  go  for  naught,  and  he  is  lucky  if  he 
gets  off  with  a  jawing  and  being  told  that  he  had  no 
business  there  right  ahead  of  a  first-class  train.  And 
these  are  by  no  means  a  hundredth  part  of  the  little 
pleasantnesses  that  tend  to  turn  a  man's  hair  gray, 
and  make  him  wish  he  had  been  born  a  king. 


"  '  Section  foreman's  got  a  rail  up.'  "  — p.  152. 


IN  THE  NICK  OF  TIME  153 

You  remember  that  I  hinted  at  a  bad  case  of 
"broke  in  two"  that  happened  to  me  once;  hap 
pily  it  was  not  disastrous  in  its  results  but  — 

There  was  on  our  division  a  mountain,  and  the 
track  down  this  mountain  was  about  seven  miles 
long,  and  at  the  top  was  a  tunnel  half  a  mile  long, 
opening  out  on  the  down-hill  side,  on  a  short  curve, 
handy  to  look  back  on  and  see  if  your  train  was  all 
together.  The  road  down  the  mountain  was  quite 
crooked,  as  such  places  always  are,  and  so  steep  that 
to  take  a  train  up  its  entire  length  without  "  doub 
ling,"  was  a  feat  to  brag  about.  Half-way  down,  and 
hidden  by  a  curve  from  both  directions,  was  a  station 
on  one  side,  and  a  freight  house  on  the  other,  and 
nearly  all  inward-bound  trains  had  cars  for  the  freight 
house,  which  compelled  them  to  cross  over  the  out 
ward-bound  track  to  get  to  the  freight-house  siding. 
The  switch  to  this  siding  was  a  "  head-on  "  switch 
to  the  outward  or  down-hill  track ;  and  as  that  place 
came  under  the  "  yard-limit "  rule,  all  freight  trains 
were  obliged  to  come  in  there  dead  slow,  which  they 
did.  Consequently  conductors  had  become  careless, 
and  were  in  the  habit  of  leaving  this  head-on  switch 
open  after  they  went  in,  so  as  to  be  handy  to  get  out 
again,  and  the  flagman  would  go  barely  around  the 
curve,  so  he  could  show  his  flag  to  any  on-coming 
train,  and  stop  them  before  they  ran  through  the 
open  switch. 

On  the  day  of  which  I  speak,  I  had  a  heavy  mixed 
train,  among  them  being  four  cars  of  railroad  iron 


154      THE  GENERAL  MANAGER'S  STORY 

just  about  in  the  middle,  and  when  my  engine  plunged 
into  the  tunnel  I  shut  her  off ;  for  she  would  roll  all 
too  fast  after  that,  and  need  a  few  brakes  set.  It 
was  early  on  a  summer  morning,  and  I  knew  the 
crew  were  apt  to  be  asleep  in  the  caboose,  so  I  called 
for  brakes  to  wake  them  up,  but  it  didn't  have  the 
desired  effect.  I  looked  back  as  I  came  out  of  the 
tunnel  and  watched  the  cars  following  each  other  out 
until  about  half  the  train  was  through,  then  there 
came  no  more.  I  pulled  out  at  once  and  blew  the 
"broke  in  two"  signal  again  and  again,  all  the  time 
watching  back  for  the  rear  end  of  my  train.  They 
must  have  parted  just  on  the  crest  of  the  mountain, 
and  the  rear  section  must  have  nearly  stopped  before 
it  pitched  over  and  concluded  to  follow  us ;  for  I 
opened  out  a  good  train  length,  and  began  to  think 
that  the  crew  must  have  got  their  end  stopped,  when 
they  shot  out  of  that  tunnel  like  a  comet,  the  rail 
road  iron  in  the  lead.  Again  I  pulled  out  for  dear 
life,  and  blew  my  signal  —  not  a  man  was  out  on  the 
train,  and  as  it  all  came  through,  the  caboose  (a  little 
four-wheeled  affair)  was  flirted  off  the  track  by  the 
whip-like  motion  of  the  train  in  straightening  out, 
and  flying  through  the  air  dropped  into  a  river  more 
than  five  hundred  feet  below. 

Now  I  was  in  a  tight  box,  not  a  living  soul  to  set 
a  brake  on  those  cars;  for  the  entire  crew,  head 
brakeman  and  all,  went  down  to  death  in  their  ca 
boose —  a  severe  penalty  indeed  for  their  neglect  of 
duty  in  going  to  sleep  on  the  road ;  but  one  which 


IN  THE  NICK  OF  TIME  155 

thousands  of  railroad  men  have  paid,  and  will  con 
tinue  to  pay. 

I  told  my  fireman  to  close  the  firebox  door  again, 
and  jump  if  he  wanted  to,  "For,"  said  I,  "we  shall 
probably  never  get  to  the  bottom  of  this  mountain." 
I  knew  that  the  chances  were  a  hundred  to  one  that 
somebody  would  be  working  in  the  freight-house 
track  at  that  time  of  day  with  the  switch  open,  and 
in  that  case  I  was  bound  to  go  in  there  and  wreck 
the  whole  outfit,  for  I  couldn't  stop  any  more  than 
a  three-year-old  child  could  stop  an  earthquake.  He 
looked  at  the  fast-flying  telegraph  poles  and  didn't 
dare  to  jump;  so  on  we  went,  faster  and  faster,  yet 
hardly  fast  enough  ;  the  old  engine  jumped  and  rolled 
so  that  we  could  hardly  hang  on  to  her ;  the  coal  was 
running  out  of  each  gangway  in  a  steady  stream,  the 
lids  of  the  tank-boxes  flew  open,  and  tools  and  oil 
cans  marked  our  trail. 

I  shall  never  forget  that  wild  ride  down  the  moun 
tain  if  I  live  to  be  a  thousand  years  old.  When  she 
struck  a  reverse  curve  about  two  miles  from  the  tun 
nel,  the  fireman  was  thrown  clear  through  the  cab 
window,  and  literally  torn  limb  from  limb  as  he  came 
in  contact  with  the  ground.  I  thought  she  had  left 
the  track  altogether,  for  she  rolled  almost  over,  hurl 
ing  me  across  the  cab  and  back  again,  as  she  struck 
the  reverse  end  of  the  curve,  and  came  down  on  her 
wheels  with  a  crash,  that  shivered  every  pane  of 
glass,  and  loosened  every  bolt  and  joint  in  the  cab, 
until  it  was  like  an  old  basket,  and  rolled  around 


156      THE  GENERAL  MANAGER'S  STORY 

with  every  roll  of  the  engine  —  a  new  source  of  dan 
ger  to  me,  for  if  it  left  her,  it  must  surely  take  me 
with  it. 

I  grabbed  the  whistle  cord  again  as  soon  as  I  was 
able  to  steady  myself  enough,  and  frantically  blew 
the  "broke  in  two  "  signal,  hoping  that  it  would  warn 
any  one  who  might  be  in  the  switch,  that  I  was  com 
ing  and  couldn't  stop. 

I  couldn't  see  ahead  very  well ;  for  it  seemed  as 
if  the  wind  was  blowing  a  hurricane,  and  behind  me 
I  raised  such  a  cloud  of  dust,  that  I  couldn't  even 
see  the  rear  car  of  the  section  I  had.  So  I  just 
hung  on  desperately,  blew  my  warning  signal,  and 
watched  the  steam-gauge,  and  as  the  steam  went 
down  I  pulled  the  throttle  out  a  notch  at  a  time, 
until  at  length  I  had  her  wide  open,  hooked  up 
within  a  couple  of  notches  of  the  centre,  and  the 
exhaust  sounded  like  a  continuous  roar.  And  now 
I  saw  ahead  of  me  a  man  in  the  middle  of  the  track, 
languidly  waving  a  red  flag.  Yes ;  it  was  all  over 
with  me  now  —  the  freight-house  switch  was  open. 
Mechanically  I  again  blew  the  signal ;  then  realizing 
that  I  had  not  more  than  half  a  dozen  more  breaths 
to  draw  in  this  world,  a  kind  of  demoniac  frenzy 
seemed  to  seize  me  —  a  desire  to  do  all  the  damage 
possible  with  my  dying  breath,  to  annihilate  every 
thing  from  the  face  of  the  earth,  as  it  were.  Clutch 
ing  the  reverse  lever  with  both  hands,  I  with  difficulty 
unhooked  her,  and  dropped  her  down  a  couple  of 
notches,  and  as  fast  as  she  was  going  before,  I  felt 


And  now  I  saw  ahead  of  me  a  man  in  the  middle 
of  the  track."  — p.  156. 


IN  THE  NICK  OF  TIME  157 

her  leap  ahead  under  the  impetus  of  the  longer  point 
of  cut-off,  and  a  fierce  joy  surged  over  me  to  think 
what  a  world-beater  my  wreck  would  be. 

Looking  ahead  again,  I  saw  that  the  flagman  had 
dropped  his  flag,  and  was  running  at  a  breakneck 
speed  for  the  switch.  For  a  wonder  they  hadn't 
sent  out  the  biggest  dunce  on  the  train  to  flag.  He 
had  sense  enough  on  seeing  me  coming,  and  hear 
ing  my  signal,  to  comprehend  the  situation,  and  wit 
enough  to  know  the  only  right  thing  to  do,  which 
was  more  than  I  had  any  right  to  expect. 

Once  more  coward  hope  rose  in  my  breast.  If  he 
could  get  that  switch  closed,  the  absolute  certainty 
of  instant  death  at  that  point  would  be  over  —  the 
chances  were  about  one  in  a  thousand.  To  spur  him 
on,  I  again  blew  what  then  sounded  to  me  like  the 
despairing  death  shriek  of  the  iron  devil  I  rode,  and 
to  give  him  every  second  of  time  possible,  I  shut  off 
my  throttle,  with  the  immediate  result  that  the  cars 
bumped  up  against  the  tender  with  a  shock  that 
nearly  threw  me  over  backwards  ;  but  I  hung  on 
and  watched  that  man  eagerly  as  he  flew  with  all 
the  speed  that  was  in  him  for  that  switch.  What 
if  he  should  stub  his  toe,  as  men  so  often  do  under 
like  circumstances  ?  It  would  mean  death  for  me 
before  I  could  close  my  eyes ;  and,  even  then,  I  re 
member  thinking  how  fortunate  it  was  for  me,  that 
owing  to  the  proverbial  laziness  of  flagmen,  he  hadn't 
gone  out  as  far  as  the  rules  required,  but  had  stayed 
near  the  switch. 


158  THE  GENERAL  MANAGER'S   STORY 

I  saw  him  reach  it,  and  stoop  down,  clutch  the 
handle,  and  at  the  first  effort  fail  to  lift  it  out  of 
the  notch  in  which  it  lies  when  the  switch  is  open ; 
and  then  I  swept  by  like  a  cyclone.  He  had  got  the 
switch  closed  just  in  the  nick  of  time,  and  the  rush 
of  wind  from  the  passing  train  hurled  him  down  a 
fifty-foot  embankment,  bruising  him  and  tearing  his 
clothes,  but  fortunately  doing  him  no  serious  injury. 

What  did  the  company  do  to  reward  him  for  his 
heroism  in  preventing  a  most  disastrous  wreck  ? 
What  did  they  do  ?  Let  him  off  with  a  reprimand 
for  not  having  been  out  a  proper  distance  with  his 
flag,  and  discharged  him  within  thirty  days  for  a 
repetition  of  the  offence  at  the  same  place. 

I  saw  in  the  siding  the  engine  that  I  came  so  near 
hitting,  and  the  engine  and  train  crew  out  in  the  field, 
staring  with  blanched  faces ;  one  laggard  just  tum 
bling  over  the  fence  as  I  whirled  by.  I  heard  a  crash, 
and  looking  back  saw  that  the  corner  of  the  head  car 
had  rolled  over  far  enough  to  break  off  the  water- 
crane  that  stood  alongside  the  track,  resulting  in  a 
bad  washout,  before  they  could  get  the  water  shut 
off.  I  breathed  much  easier  now,  and  it  was  with  a 
light  heart  that  I  pulled  up  the  lever  again  and 
gradually  opened  her  out.  I  was  running  through  a 
yard  where  the  rules  required  me  to  reduce  speed  to 
six  miles  an  hour,  but  a  train  going  sixty-six  could 
not  have  kept  up  with  me.  I  now  began  to  almost 
enjoy  my  ride,  for  the  relaxation  was  so  great  after 
what  I  had  passed  through  that  it  didn't  seem  as  if 
there  was  any  more  danger  now. 


IN  THE  NICK  OF  TIME  159 

There  was  a  passenger  station  at  the  foot  of  the 
mountain,  and  looking  at  my  watch,  I  saw  that  a 
train  was  just  about  due  there ;  so  again  I  began  to 
blow  my  signal  to  warn  them  to  look  out  for  them 
selves,  for  the  station  was  on  my  side  of  the  road,  so 
that  passengers  and  baggage  had  to  cross  my  track. 
Yes,  there  she  stood  as  I  came  in  sight  —  a  little  three- 
car  local.  Again  I  blew  to  them  to  make  sure  that 
they  understood  what  was  going  on,  although  I  could 
see  that  the  track  ahead  of  me  was  clear;  for  the 
operator  at  the  preceding  station,  with  rare  presence 
of  mind,  had  telegraphed  ahead  that  I  was  coming 
"broke  in  two,"  and  fast  as  I  went  the  message  beat 
me,  and  though  I  couldn't  hear  it  for  the  infernal 
roar  and  clatter,  yet  I  saw,  in  answer  to  my  own 
signal,  two  short  puffs  of  white  steam  from  the 
engine's  whistle,  which  meant  "All  right,  come 
along."  And  come  along  I  did,  I  have  no  doubt,  to 
the  amazement  of  those  passengers,  who  certainly 
never  saw  a  freight  train  wheeled  at  that  rate  before. 
The  agent  had  a  truck-load  of  baggage  ready  to  take 
across  as  soon  as  I  passed,  but  the  suction  of  the  train 
drew  the  whole  business  under  the  wheels,  and  it  dis 
appeared.  He  was  discharged  because  the  superin 
tendent  said  he  was  a  d — d  fool. 

The  engineer  of  the  local  told  me  afterwards  that 
all  he  saw  was  the  front  end  of  the  engine,  with  my 
face  at  the  window ;  then  there  came  a  big  cloud  of 
dust  and  a  roar,  followed  directly  by  another  roar  as 
the  rear  section  passed  him,  and  that  was  all  he 
knew  about  it. 


l6o  THE  GENERAL  MANAGER'S   STORY 

I  was  now  down  the  mountain,  thank  Heaven,  and 
on  level  ground,  but  the  rear  section  wasn't,  and  I 
hadn't  the  least  idea  how  far  it  was  behind  me  ;  so  I 
kept  the  old  girl  waltzing  as  fast  as  I  could  —  which 
wasn't  very  fast,  as  my  steam  was  down  to  sixty 
pounds.  I  didn't  dare  get  down  and  look  at  my  fire, 
for  fear  of  being  killed  in  case  the  rear  section 
caught  me,  which  was  now  more  imminent  than 
ever ;  as  while  I  was  losing  way  on  the  level  ground, 
their  speed  would  hardly  be  checked  at  all. 

I  now  began  to  think  seriously  of  jumping,  and  if 
I  had,  it  would  probably  have  been  the  last  of  me ; 
for  the  bank  there  was  a  rock  fill  formed  by  blasting 
out  the  high  rock  on  the  other  side  of  the  road.  I 
was  still  going  a  good  thirty-five  or  forty  miles  an 
hour,  and  besides,  I  was  so  shaken  up  by  that  terrible 
ride,  and  had  undergone  such  a  severe  mental  strain, 
that  I  was  as  weak  as  a  rag,  and  lame  and  sore  all 
over. 

Suddenly  rounding  a  curve,  I  saw  a  man  standing 
by  the  switch  of  a  long  siding,  giving  me  a  frantic 
"go  ahead"  signal.  At  that  sight  my  spirits  rose 
about  two  thousand  per  cent,  for  I  knew  I  was  saved. 

Giving  him  an  answering  toot  toot,  I  dropped  my 
reverse  lever  down  in  the  corner,  and  pulled  her  wide 
open  to  get  as  far  from  the  rear  section  as  possible, 
and  give  him  all  the  chance  I  could  to  throw  the 
switch,  and  get  out  of  the  way. 

This  siding  itself  was  on  a  large  curve,  and  I 
found  before  I  had  gone  a  quarter  of  its  length  that 


IN  THE  NICK  OF  TIME  l6l 

it  was  partly  occupied  by  a  number  of  loaded  coal 
cars.  Now  here  arose  another  new  combination. 
There  was  going  to  be  a  wreck  on  that  siding,  and 
I  might  get  caught  in  it  yet ;  for  if  I  didn't  get  far 
enough  away  from  the  point  of  collision,  some  of 
the  cars  would  be  apt  to  pile  over  on  top  of  me,  and 
then  again  if,  in  my  haste  to  get  out  of  the  way,  I 
got  to  the  further  switch  at  just  the  right  time,  they 
might  be  shoved  out,  and  ram  me.  You  see,  it  fre 
quently  happens  on  the  railroad  that  you  have  to 
think  of  several  things  at  once,  and  not  be  very  long 
about  it,  either ;  and  the  result  of  my  rapid  thinking 
on  this  occasion  was  that  I  had  done  enough  towards 
saving  the  company's  property  for  one  day,  and  that 
now  was  a  good  time  to  look  out  for  myself  a  bit. 

I  pulled  her  over  and  " plugged"  her;  but  as  my 
steam  was  low,  I  concluded  she  would  stop  herself 
quicker  shut  off,  so  I  shut  her  off ;  and  while  I  was 
waiting  for  her  to  slow  up  enough  to  give  me  a 
chance  to  jump  on  the  left  side,  the  crash  came. 

There  was  a  great  smashing  and  grinding  and 
piling  up  round  the  curve  behind  me ;  but  where 
I  was,  the  cars  merely  ran  together  with  a  great 
ker-bump  and  rattling  of  links  and  pins,  which  I 
could  hear  continuing  on  round  the  curve  ahead 
as  the  lost  motion  between  the  cars  was  violently 
taken  up.  After  the  noise  stopped  a  bit  I  started 
to  back  up,  when,  remembering  that  in  all  probabil 
ity  the  opposite  track  was  blocked  by  the  wreckage, 
I  ran  ahead  instead  to  the  next  station,  and  no- 


1 62      THE  GENERAL  MANAGER'S  STORY 

tified  the  agent  to  hold  all  trains  until  further 
orders. 

I  then  reported  to  the  train-despatcher  by  wire, 
and  he  ordered  me  to  cross  over  to  the  other  track 
and  run  back  to  the  wreck,  find  out  how  the  tracks 
were,  and  report  to  him  from  this  station,  the 
agent  keeping  the  track  open  for  my  return. 

The  agent,  a  bright,  ambitious  young  fellow,  who 
is  now  a  division  superintendent  on  the  same 
road,  helped  me  to  fire  up,  and  back  I  went.  I 
found,  as  I  had  expected,  that  both  tracks  were 
blocked,  the  wrecked  cars  being  piled  in  heaps, 
mixed  and  tangled  with  the  railroad  iron  that  had 
composed  part  of  my  train,  while  coal,  flour,  agri 
cultural  machinery,  and  all  sorts  of  merchandise 
were  scattered  all  over  the  ground. 

All  this  property  and  four  human  lives  were  lost 
because  the  train  crew  took  an  early  morning  nap. 

Yes  indeed ;  it  is  true  that  if  everybody  obeyed 
orders  and  attended  to  business,  the  only  accidents 
on  railroads  would  be  those  caused  by  forces  over 
which  the  company  has  no  control,  such  as  wash 
outs,  landslides,  and  so  forth.  I  know  it  is  claimed 
that  watchmen  should  be  stationed  at  places  where 
these  things  are  liable  to  occur,  and  as  a  rule  this 
is  done ;  but  the  trouble  is  that  they  often  happen 
where  nobody  ever  had  the  least  idea  that  there 
was  any  danger,  and  while  the  watchman  is  guard 
ing  the  place  that  is  supposed  to  be  shaky,  down 
comes  the  whole  side  of  a  mountain,  or  out  goes  a 


IN  THE  NICK  OF  TIME  163 

thousand  yards  of  track,  where  no  one  had  thought 
such  a  thing  possible.  Then,  again,  the  time  of 
sliding  is  not  given  in  the  time  table.  Those  things 
are  just  as  likely  to  happen  when  a  train  is  pass 
ing,  or  too  close  to  stop,  as  at  any  other  time. 

There  was  another  long  hill  going  the  other 
way,  not  as  long  as  the  last  one  I  spoke  of,  but 
much  steeper;  and  near  the  foot  of  this  hill  there 
was  a  bridge,  which  was  a  curve  in  itself,  and  as 
it  was  built  over  a  muck-hole,  on  piles,  there  were 
very  strict  orders  for  all  trains  to  go  over  it  "  dead 
slow."  As  the  grade,  however,  continued  slightly 
for  half  a  mile  or  so  beyond  the  bridge,  it  was 
customary  for  freight  trains  to  roll  down  the  hill 
about  as  fast  as  they  dared  to  hit  the  bridge,  and 
as  soon  as  the  engine  was  over,  to  let  off  all  brakes, 
when  the  engineer  would  give  her  a  little  steam, 
and  with  the  momentum  acquired  on  the  grade,  the 
train  would  go  flying,  which  was  a  great  help ;  and 
as  it  was  what  railroad  men  call  "good  running 
ground,"  it  was  considered  perfectly  safe  to  do  so. 
One  side  of  the  track  there  was  a  high  rock  cut, 
and  on  the  other  a  river.  This  rock  cut  was  fre 
quently  inspected  by  the  section  gang,  and  any 
loose  stones  that  could  be  pried  out  were  taken 
down.  Nothing  had  ever  fallen  there,  and  nobody 
expected  that  anything  ever  would. 

There  was  a  watchman  stationed  at  the  bridge  to 
report  anybody  going  over  it  too  fast,  and  about  a 
mile  and  a  half  beyond  the  foot  of  the  hill,  where  a 


1 64      THE  GENERAL  MANAGER'S  STORY 

tree  had  once  fallen  down,  bringing  a  lot  of  dirt  and 
stones  with  it,  another. 

We  had  a  new  superintendent,  and  he  was  doing 
a  great  deal  of  riding  on  engines  to  get  points,  learn 
the  road,  and  see  whom  he  could  catch  violating  any 
of  the  rules.  Well,  this  night  when  I  climbed  up 
after  oiling  at  the  water-plug,  I  saw  somebody  sitting 
on  the  box  on  my  side ;  and  shoving  the  torch  in  his 
face,  discovered  the  new  super.  I  bid  him  good 
evening,  called  the  flag,  and  went  on. 

I  tried  to  get  him  into  conversation,  but  he  wasn't 
at  all  sociable,  so  I  stuck  my  head  out  of  the  window, 
and  as  I  rode  along  I  wondered  how  he  came  to  be 
at  that  water-plug,  and  wished  he  had  got  on  to  ride 
with  somebody  else  instead  of  me.  It  was  absolutely 
necessary  to  let  the  conductor  know  he  was  there, 
for  at  the  rate  we  were  in  the  habit  of  going  down 
"  Hickory  Hill "  he  would  be  sure  to  jack  us  all  up 
for  thirty  days.  But  how  to  do  it  was  the  question. 
I  knew  he  was  foxy,  and  would  be  sure  to  get  on  to 
any  tricks  by  which  I  might  try  to  communicate  with 
the  caboose.  But  for  once  kind  fortune  favored  me, 
and  a  slight  accident  which  at  any  other  time  would 
have  been  very  annoying,  now  helped  me  out. 

In  cleaning  the  fire  at  the  water-plug,  a  spark 
had  got  into  the  back  driving-box,  and  the  fumes 
of  burning  waste  and  oil  began  to  smell  quite 
strong. 

Turning  to  the  "headman,"  I  said,  "Jimmy,  run 
back  in  the  caboose,  and  get  Clayton's  dope-bucket ; 


IN  THE  NICK  OF  TIME  165 

I've  got  a  driving-box  afire.  Hurry  up,  now ;  we're 
getting  close  to  Hickory  Hill." 

"  All  right,"  said  Jimmy ;  and  away  he  went  like  a 
lamplighter  over  the  top  of  the  cars.  He  was  a 
bright  boy,  and  could  see  as  far  through  a  stone  wall 
as  the  next  one,  and  so  could  the  super ;  for,  turning 
to  me,  he  said,  — 

"  Isn't  it  customary  to  carry  dope-buckets  on  the 
engines  ? " 

I  told  him  it  was,  but  that  the  master  mechanic 
had  ordered  them  all  off  about  a  month  before,  which 
was  true. 

"Are  you  going  to  pack  that  box  before  you  get  to 
the  foot  of  Hickory  ?  "  said  he. 

"  No,  sir ;  but  I  will  be  all  ready  to  run  into  Mill 
Creek  siding  when  I  get  down,  if  I  have  it  on  the 
engine." 

"Ah !  "  said  he ;  "  I  see,"  with  a  sneer,  which  told 
me  that  he  did  indeed  see  through  my  little  subter 
fuge. 

Well,  of  course  the  conductor  overdid  the  thing, 
and  held  me  up  that  night  down  Hickory  so  that  you 
might  have  got  off  anywhere,  and  picked  a  hat-full  of 
huckleberries  and  got  on  again.  I  was  ashamed  my 
self,  the  thing  was  so  plain. 

When  the  train  had  crawled  about  half-way  over 
the  bridge,  the  super  said  to  me,  — 

"You'd  better  blow  'off  brakes';  I'd  like  to  get 
home  by  bedtime  to-morrow,  if  possible." 

So  I  blew  them  off,  and  when  I  thought  the  caboose 


1 66      THE  GENERAL  MANAGER'S  STORY 

was  over  the  bridge,  and  not  till  then,  I  hooked  her 
up  and  pulled  out,  making  up  my  mind  to  give  him  a 
ride  the  rest  of  the  way  down  anyhow. 

It  was  a  fine  moonlight  night,  and  I  soon  had  the 
train  bobbing  along  like  a  string  of  corks  on  the 
edge  of  a  seine.  The  old  girl  was  doing  herself 
proud,  and  I  said  to  myself,  — 

"I'll  bet  he'll  get  enough  of  riding  on  the  hard 
cover  of  that  box  before  I  get  to  the  siding"  —  when 
all  at  once  I  saw  in  the  bright  moonlight  not  three 
telegraph  poles  away,  and  square  across  the  track,  a 
rock  as  big  as  a  small  house.  I  shut  her  off,  yelled 
"  Git  out  o'  here  !  "  and  made  a  scrambling  jump  over 
the  legs  of  the  super,  who  was  watching  the  fireman 
poke  the  fire. 

The  next  thing  I  knew  I  was  on  the  ground,  rolling 
over  and  over,  spreading  out  my  arms  and  legs  try 
ing  to  stop  myself.  Before  I  got  stopped,  the  engine 
hit  the  rock,  reared  partly  up,  and  then  turning  over, 
crossed  the  other  track  and  plunged  into  the  river. 
Her  tank  lay  on  the  bank  alongside  of  her,  bottom 
up ;  three  cars  leaped  clean  over  her  and  sank  in  the 
deep  water ;  four  more  climbed  over  the  rock  and  dis 
tributed  themselves  on  the  other  side  of  it,  tearing 
up  the  track  and  knocking  down  the  telegraph  poles. 

There  had  been  two  flat  cars  near  the  middle  of 
the  train,  loaded  with  small  portable  boilers,  about  ten 
feet  long  by  three  in  diameter,  and  when  I  got  slowed 
up  enough  to  see  anything,  the  first  that  caught  my 
eye  was  one  of  those  boilers  rolling  after  me.  Then 


IN  THE  NICK  OF  TIME  l6/ 

I  wished  I  could  increase  my  speed  again ;  but  that 
was  out  of  the  question,  and  even  if  I  had  stopped 
right  there,  it  would  have  been  over  me  before  I 
could  get  up,  rolling  me  as  flat  as  a  pancake. 

For,  I  suppose,  about  a  minute  I  was  as  badly 
scared  as  I  ever  have  been  in  my  life ;  but  at  last, 
just  as  I  had  about  made  up  my  mind  to  shut  my 
eyes  for  the  last  time,  one  end  of  the  boiler  struck 
against  something  that  turned  it  from  its  course,  and 
it  rolled  into  the  river.  After  a  few  more  involuntary 
revolutions  on  my  part,  I  also  stopped. 

During  all  this  time  you  are  to  understand  that 
the  cars  had  been  climbing  on  top  of  the  rock  and 
of  each  other,  like  a  lot  of  rats  trying  to  escape  from 
a  terrier,  and  had  become  pretty  thoroughly  wrecked. 
We  gathered  around,  and  called  to  each  other  until 
all  were  present  except  Mr.  Gleason,  the  superin 
tendent,  and  we  then  commenced  to  search  the  wreck 
for  him.  It  was  difficult  hunting,  because  the  cars 
were  piled  on  top  of  each  other ;  and  though  the  moon 
was  shining  brightly,  we  should  have  been  better 
off  for  a  few  lanterns,  as  in  among  the  wreckage, 
where  we  expected  to  find  the  body,  it  was,  of  course, 
quite  dark.  Having  sent  a  flag  out  each  way,  we  were 
only  four  to  search,  and  I  can  say  for  myself  that  I 
could  not  bring  myself  to  feel  with  my  hands  where 
I  was  unable  to  see. 

After  a  while  we  abandoned  the  search,  until  we 
could  get  lamps ;  and  as  the  man  who  went  back  had 
been  ordered  to  flag  all  the  way  to  the  last  station 


1 68      THE  GENERAL  MANAGER'S  STORY 

and  report  the  wreck  to  the  train-despatcher,  we 
stood  idly  talking  the  matter  over  near  the  tender, 
when  the  conductor  suddenly  said, — 

"  Be  quiet,  boys !  I  thought  I  heard  something 
under  the  tank."  We  listened  a  moment,  and  were 
sure  we  heard  faint  sounds,  like  something  moving 
and  muttering  under  there. 

I  ran  round  to  the  other  side,  where  I  had  noticed 
that  one  corner  was  a  little  raised  up,  and  stooping 
down  called  out,  "Mr.  Gleason!"  No  answer,  but 
still  there  was  no  doubt  that  somebody  or  something 
was  under  there ;  so  telling  the  others  that  I  would 
find  out,  I  crawled  in.  There  had  been  about  half  a 
tank  of  fine,  soft  coal  in  the  tender  when  she  turned 
over,  and  the  tank  itself  was  nearly  full  of  water ;  so 
the  whole  mass  was  now  lying  there,  a  pool  of  inky 
black  mud  ;  for  there  was  a  slight  hollow  in  the 
ground  that  just  held  it  nicely. 

As  I  crawled  into  the  mess  on  my  hands  and 
knees,  I  suddenly  bumped  heads  with  some  one  who 
immediately  drew  back. 

"  Is  that  you,  Mr.  Gleason  ? "  said  I ;  but  I  got  no 
answer,  and  reaching  round  in  the  dark,  I  soon  felt 
the  fur  collar  of  his  overcoat,  and  knew  it  was  he. 
"  If  you'll  follow  me,  sir,  I'll  show  you  the  way  out," 
said  I. 

We  were  both  on  our  knees  under  the  tank,  and 
half-way  to  our  waists  in  the  black  mud.  Without 
saying  a  word,  he  threw  his  arms  about  my  neck  and 
tried  to  throw  me ;  but  I  was  a  young  fellow  then 


IN  THE  NICK  OF  TIME  169 

and  pretty  muscular,  and  realizing  that  he  had  gone 
temporarily  crazy,  I  shouted  to  the  others  to  come  in 
and  help  me,  while  I  exerted  myself  to  the  utmost  to 
prevent  him  from  throwing  me,  and  at  the  same  time 
to  work  him  along  towards  the  opening. 

And,  oh  my,  what  a  tussle  that  was !  I  can't 
think  of  it  even  yet  without  half  shuddering  and 
half  laughing. 

After  I  had  called  to  the  fellows  outside,  not  a 
word  was  spoken  by  either  of  us,  —  we  hadn't  the 
wind  to  spare.  He  was  a  wiry  chap,  and  he  was 
bound  not  to  be  taken  out ;  and  before  the  others 
got  inside,  by  an  unlucky  slip  of  my  knee,  I  fell,  so 
that  he  could  get  his  weight  on  my  neck,  and  he 
pressed  my  face  down  into  the  water. 

I  could  hear  the  conductor  calling  me  by  name 
and  asking  where  I  was,  and  of  course  was  unable 
to  answer  or  even  breathe  ;  but  he  could  hear  the 
hard  breathing  of  the  super,  and  knew  pretty  near 
what  was  the  matter.  So  he  hurried  as  much  as 
he  could  under  the  circumstances,  and  soon  had  him 
off  of  me ;  and  not  any  too  soon,  either,  for  I  was 
nearly  suffocated. 

With  plenty  of  help,  we  soon  got  him  out ;  and  I 
wish  you  could  have  seen  him  when  we  stood  him 
up  in  the  moonlight ! 

He  was  always  a  very  dressy  man,  and  when  I 
found  him  on  the  engine  that  night,  if  I  hadn't 
known  him,  I  should  have  thought  he  was  some 
broker  or  merchant ;  for  he  had  on  a  splendid  over- 


1 70      THE  GENERAL  MANAGER'S  STORY 

coat  with  heavy  fur  collar  and  cuffs,  and,  under  that, 
a  handsome  suit  of  clothes. 

Of  course  the  entire  outfit  was  ruined  ;  and  he 
was  a  sight  for  gods  and  men,  —  as  black  as  the 
coal,  and  as  wet  as  a  drowned  rat,  while  he  could 
hardly  stand  up  with  the  weight  of  his  wet  clothes. 

His  senses  returned,  though,  as  soon  as  he  got  out 
into  the  moonlight,  and  he  asked  at  once  what  we 
had  done  to  protect  the  road ;  and,  finding  we  had 
done  all  that  could  be  done,  he  told  us  his  experi 
ence.  He  said  that  when  I  jumped  past  him  in 
the  cab,  his  first  thought  was  that  we  were  about 
to  collide  with  the  rear  of  a  preceding  train ;  but, 
before  he  could  make  a  move  to  get  out  of  the 
way,  he  was  under  the  tender,  and  all  recollection 
of  where  he  was  or  of  what  had  happened  left  him 
at  once,  and  he  thought  he  was  in  the  freight  yard 
on  the  road  he  had  left.  It  seems  they  had  been 
troubled  a  great  deal  with  freight-yard  thieves,  and 
he  thought  it  was  a  dark,  rainy  night,  and  he  had 
gone  out  to  do  a  little  detecting  on  his  own  hook. 
Hearing  us  talking  alongside  the  tender,  and  think 
ing  he  had  found  the  thieves,  he  started  in  our 
direction,  and,  as  he  supposed,  stepped  into  a  mud- 
hole  between  the  tracks.  Then  when  I  grappled 
with  him,  he  thought,  of  course,  that  the  Philistines 
had  executed  a  flank  movement  and  collared  him. 

From  the  fact,  however,  that  he  had  no  know 
ledge  of  the  half-hour  that  elapsed  between  the 
overturning  of  the  tank  and  the  time  that  he  heard 


IN  THE  NICK  OF  TIME  171 

our  voices,  it  is  quite  plain  that  he  had  been  un 
conscious. 

Now  that,  you  see,  was  a  case  of  a  rock-slide  in 
a  place  that  was  considered  perfectly  safe ;  whereas, 
at  the  place  a  little  farther  along,  where  it  was  con 
sidered  necessary  to  keep  a  watchman  day  and  night, 
nothing  ever  happened  again  as  long  as  I  remained 
on  the  road,  which  was  several  years  afterwards. 

There  was  a  tunnel  on  the  road  under  a  low  hill. 
It  was  rock  for  nearly  its  whole  length,  but  within 
a  hundred  yards  of  one  end  they  found  a  kind  of 
loose  sand  and  smooth,  round  stones,  such  as  you 
find  on  the  sea-beach ;  and  here  it  had  been  neces 
sary  to  arch  the  tunnel  with  brick.  In  the  course 
of  years  it  was  observed  that  the  brick  arch  showed 
signs  of  weakness.  The  roadmaster  reported  it, 
and  a  bulletin  order  was  issued  for  all  trains  to  go 
through  that  tunnel  at  a  speed  not  exceeding  six 
miles  per  hour. 

Watchmen  were  stationed  at  each  end  to  see  that 
the  order  was  obeyed,  and  another  man  was  sta 
tioned  at  the  bad  place  to  watch  it  and  give  timely 
warning  if  it  showed  signs  of  getting  any  worse, 
while  presumably  the  civil  engineers  of  the  road  were 
making  their  plans  to  repair  it  without  interfering 
with  the  traffic,  —  for  that's  the  way  all  work  has  to 
be  done  on  railroads. 

The  old  arch  didn't  get  any  worse,  apparently, 
until  one  night  the  "  cannon  ball "  came  along,  and, 
agreeably  to  the  bulletin  order,  the  engineer  let  her 
roll  slowly  through  the  tunnel. 


1/2  THE  GENERAL  MANAGER'S   STORY 

Just  as  he  passed  the  watchman,  one  brick  dropped 
from  directly  over  the  centre  of  the  track,  and,  strik 
ing  the  point  of  the  pilot,  glanced  over  and  broke 
against  the  wall  within  a  foot  of  the  watchman's 
head,  who,  luckily,  was  a  rather  nervous  man,  so  he 
ran,  yelling  for  dear  life,  out  of  the  tunnel,  and  that 
saved  him. 

The  engineer  instinctively  pulled  his  reverse  lever 
over  and  applied  the  brake ;  then,  hearing  the  bricks 
clattering  down  on  top  of  his  cab,  he  let  the  brake 
off  again,  dropped  the  lever  ahead,  and  gave  her 
steam  to  get  out  before  the  whole  roof  fell  in ;  and 
it  was  just  those  semi-unconscious  acts  of  his  that 
prevented  any  loss  of  life  in  that  case,  for  next  to 
the  engine  was  an  express  car,  and  next  to  that  a 
baggage  car. 

The  express  messenger  had  just  gone  to  the  head 
end  of  his  car,  where  his  desk  was,  to  look  over  his 
way-bills,  and  the  baggage-master  had  gone  back  in 
the  smoker  to  get  a  drink  of  water,  when  down  came 
hundreds  of  tons  of  loose  sand  and  stones  directly 
between  the  two  cars,  crushing  them  and  burying 
them  so  that  only  the  extreme  end  of  each  was  out 
side  the  pile  of  dirt  that  filled  the  tunnel  solid  full. 

The  engine  broke  loose  and  ran  on  out  of  the 
tunnel  altogether;  and,  after  waiting  and  listening 
awhile  to  see  if  any  more  was  coming  down,  the  fire 
man  and  the  two  watchmen  went  back  with  torches 
and  lanterns  to  see  how  things  looked. 

When  they  got  back,  they  could  hear  the  express 


IN  THE  NICK  OF  TIME  173 

messenger  kicking  and  pounding  in  the  corner  of  the 
car,  so  the  fireman  returned  to  the  engine,  got  the 
axe,  and  chopped  him  out. 

In  the  meantime,  the  frightened  passengers  made 
their  way  back  to  the  next  station  in  the  rear,  and 
reported  the  accident  to  the  station  agent,  who 
passed  the  word  along  to  the  superintendent  that 
the  engine,  baggage,  and  express  cars  were  buried 
in  the  tunnel.  The  engineer's  wife,  who  was  in 
delicate  health,  was  thrown  into  convulsions  on  hear 
ing  the  report,  and  died  before  it  was  known  that  her 
husband  had  escaped. 


CHAPTER  XII 

OVERWORK TRUSTING     A    CONDUCTOR  —  FIFTY-TWO 

HOURS  ON  DUTY  —  THE  CALLER  —  A  TRAMP'S  STORY 
—  LEARNING   A    LESSON DEATH    OF    THE   TRAMP 

OUR  lives  were  not,  as  you  may  have  been  led  to 
suppose,  all  made  up  of  accidents,  by  any  means. 
They  were  varied  by  long  spells  of  semi-idleness 
when  freight  was  slack,  or  being  worked  to  death 
when  it  was  running  heavy,  for  at  such  times  it  is  not 
admitted  that  men  need  rest  or  sleep ;  and  I  have  had 
a  round-house  foreman  indignantly  ask,  "What's  the 
matter  with  you,  that  you  register  for  rest  ?  You've 
only  been  at  work  twenty-four  hours  !  There's  Tom 
Bailey  has  been  on  his  engine  thirty-six  hours,  and  he 
ain't  asking  for  rest  yet.  Some  of  you  fellows  ought 
to  get  a  job  clerkin'  in  a  drug  store." 

You  have  probably  seen  accounts  of  the  inquests 
on  railroad  wrecks,  where  men  have  testified  that 
they  were  so  worn  out  with  overwork  that  they 
were  unable  to  properly  attend  to  business.  This 
is  a  common  occurrence.  The  worst  case  of  the 
kind  that  ever  happened  to  me  was  when  on  one 
occasion,  on  arriving  at  the  end  of  the  division,  after 
a  particularly  tedious  trip,  I  was  ordered  to  return  at 
once  sixty  miles  down  the  road  to  bring  up  thirty 

'74 


FIFTY-TWO   HOURS  ON  DUTY  1/5 

cars  of  coal,  as  fuel  for  the  engines.  "  And  hurry  up 
with  it ;  we  want  it."  I  protested  that  I  was  tired, 
and  unfit  to  go,  but  was  told  there  was  nobody 
else;  so  I  coaled,  watered,  and  oiled  up,  got  the 
caboose,  and  started. 

It  might  be  thought  that  after  having  hauled  a 
heavy  train  over  the  road,  it  would  be  a  snap  to  go 
back  with  nothing  but  the  caboose ;  whereas,  though 
it  is  true  that  better  time  can  be  made,  yet  it  is  terri 
bly  hard  riding  on  a  heavy  freight  engine,  with  no 
train  to  hold  her  down.  She  shakes  you  up  like  a 
die  in  a  box,  with  a  peculiar  sidewise  motion  that 
affects  the  loins  and  back,  so  that  before  I  got  half 
way  to  where  I  was  going,  my  back  ached  like  a  hol 
low  tooth.  However,  I  was  anxious  to  get  there  as 
soon  as  possible,  in  order  to  get  back  and  get  some 
sleep,  so  I  ran  her  right  up  to  the  speed  limit, — and 
a  little  more,  —  regardless  of  my  lame  back. 

When  I  got  there,  I  found  four  hours'  switching 
(for  which  you  don't  get  paid)  to  get  my  train  to 
gether;  but  at  last  we  got  started.  One  of  the 
important  things  for  an  engineer  to  do  is  to  figure 
out  at  what  plugs  he  can  take  water  most  advanta 
geously  ;  for  as  this  is  a  job  that  causes  considerable 
delay,  it  is  desirable  to  do  as  little  of  it  as  possible ; 
yet  it  is  a  high  crime  to  run  out  of  water,  so  that  lots 
of  brain-fag  and  worriment  are  expended  on  this 
item.  On  my  trip  back  I  had  the  hill  to  climb  that 
we  rolled  down  so  slowly  the  night  the  super  was 
aboard.  No  one  had  ever  taken  thirty  cars  of  coal 


176      THE  GENERAL  MANAGER'S  STORY 

up  that  hill,  but  I  didn't  know  that ;  for  if  I  had,  I 
would  have  allowed  for  the  contingency  of  doubling 
the  hill,  both  in  my  water  calculation  and  in  estimat 
ing  my  time  ahead  of  the  passenger  trains.  I  knew, 
of  course,  that  it  would  be  a  hard  tug  up  there,  so  I 
cautioned  the  fireman  to  get  a  good  welding  heat  on 
her.  I  got  as  much  water  into  her  as  she  would 
stand,  and  after  oiling  the  cylinders,  took  a  run  for 
the  hill. 

We  had  just  taken  the  hill  nicely  when  the  con 
ductor  came  running  over  the  train,  waving  his 
hat  and  yelling  for  me  to  stop.  Not  knowing  what 
might  be  the  matter,  I  shut  off ;  when  he  came  up 
and  said  he  had  a  hot  box  on  the  last  car.  Perhaps  I 
didn't  read  the  riot  act  to  that  conductor,  to  stop  me 
right  at  the  foot  of  the  hill  for  a  hot  box,  when,  if  he 
knew  anything,  he  knew  that  long  before  I  could  get 
up  there  he  would  be  able  to  walk  alongside  the  car 
and  pack  it. 

The  damage  was  done  though,  so  I  told  him  to  cut 
the  train  in  two,  and  I  would  take  my  end  up  while 
he  packed  his  box.  By  the  time  I  got  my  train 
together  again  on  top  of  the  hill,  I  had  barely  water 
enough  to  reach  the  next  plug,  the  fire  was  in  bad 
shape,  and  not  so  very  many  miles  behind  us  there 
was  a  mail  train ;  so  the  situation  resolved  itself  into 
this,  that  with  barely  water  and  time  enough,  and  a 
poor  fire,  I  needed  to  make  an  extra  good  run  of 
fifteen  miles.  I  was  far  from  happy,  especially  as  I 
could  see  the  steam  dropping  with  the  regularity  of 


FIFTY-TWO   HOURS  ON  DUTY 

clock-work,  though  the  fireman  was  working  like  a 
slave.  About  half-way  to  where  I  had  to  go  was  a 
little  station,  with  a  crossover  switch,  and  a  slight 
grade  against  me.  I  humored  her  all  I  could  to  get 
over  that  little  lump,  for  then  my  immediate  troubles 
would  be  about  over.  It  was  not  to  be,  however ;  she 
gave  one  expiring  gasp  and  died  before  reaching  the 
summit. 

The  thing  to  do  now  was  to  back  across  out  of  the 
way  of  the  mail  which  was  nearly  due,  but  there  was 
also  a  train  due  on  the  other  track ;  and  as  their  time 
of  passing  this  station  was  only  about  five  minutes 
apart,  the  conductor,  in  obedience  to  the  rule  made 
for  just  exactly  such  emergencies,  went  into  the 
telegraph  office  to  find  out  if  either  of  the  trains  were 
late ;  for  if  one  was  late,  we  might  take  advantage  of 
that  fact  to  avoid  delaying  them  both. 

They  were  both  on  time,  and  while  he  was  tele 
graphing  both  ways  to  ascertain  that  fact,  the  mail 
came  up  behind  us  and  stopped. 

In  a  big  hurry  now,  the  switches  were  opened  and 
I  was  signalled  back.  As  it  was  slightly  down  grade, 
I  merely  gave  them  a  little  kick,  and  away  they  rolled. 
As  I  went  past  the  conductor,  I  asked  him  if  he  had  a 
man  on  the  rear  car  to  set  a  brake  and  stop  them 
after  I  got  across.  He  said  yes ;  but  he  lied,  and  I 
thought  so  at  the  time. 

When  the  engine  was  over  all  clear,  I  called  for 
brakes,  but  I  got  no  brakes ;  and  they  were  rolling 
faster  than  ever,  and  in  the  meantime  the  other 


1/8  THE  GENERAL  MANAGER'S   STORY 

passenger  train  had  arrived  and  stood  facing  me. 
It  was  now  dark,  so  that  all  I  could  see  was  lamp 
signals  ;  again  and  again  I  called  for  brakes,  but 
there  was  no  one  on  the  train  to  set  them  ;  the  mail 
had  gone,  and  I  ought  now  to  be  crossing  back  again 
out  of  the  other  fellow's  way.  If  I  stopped  them 
with  the  engine,  the  chances  were  ninety-nine  to  a 
hundred  that  I  should  break  them  in  two.  It  was 
the  only  thing  to  do,  though,  so  as  gently  as  I 
could  I  checked  them,  and,  as  I  fondly  hoped,  pulled 
my  whole  train  across  out  of  the  way ;  but,  alas  !  the 
caboose  and  two  cars  had  broken  off  and  rolled  away 
down  the  grade,  no  one  could  say  how  far,  so  I  had 
to  back  up  again,  clear  of  the  switch,  cut  off  the 
engine,  and  go  back  after  those  cars.  There  was 
nobody  on  them,  and  the  caboose  lights  had  not  been 
lit  —  consequently  it  was  a  hunt  in  the  dark ;  and  as 
one  of  the  things  you  mustn't  do  is  to  run  into  and 
wreck  your  rear  end,  when  going  back  after  it, 
I  had  to  go  very  carefully,  while  all  this  time  the 
passenger  train  stood  there  waiting.  At  last  I  got 
them,  pulled  them  across  in  a  hurry,  although,  to  be 
sure,  it  was  hardly  worth  while  to  hurry  now,  and 
after  the  passenger  train  had  gone,  I  shoved  them 
back  over  the  switch  again,  pulled  up  the  train, 
shoved  it  over  and  coupled  them  all  together,  and 
pulled  them  back  on  to  my  track  again. 

I  was  now  nearly  out  of  water,  and  in  less  than  an 
hour  the  limited  would  be  on  top  of  us.  The  next 
water-plug  was  five  miles  away ;  I  cut  the  engine 


FIFTY-TWO   HOURS  ON  DUTY  1/9 

loose  and  ran  for  it,  took  half  a  tank  as  quickly  as 
possible,  and  started  back  after  my  train.  In  all 
cases  where  an  engine  has  to  come  back  after  a  train 
in  the  night,  the  rules  require  a  man  to  be  stationed 
on  the  head  car  with  a  lamp  to  signal  the  engineer 
back ;  but  I  had  no  faith  in  my  conductor,  so  I  didn't 
dare  to  come  back  very  fast,  imagining  every  minute 
that  I  saw  the  head  of  the  car  looming  out  suddenly 
from  the  blackness  right  behind  the  tender,  and  all 
this  time  the  precious  minutes  were  slipping  away  — 
minutes  that  I  needed  so  badly  to  get  out  of  the  way 
of  the  limited. 

I  was  right  in  not  trusting  the  conductor ;  for 
though  I  came  back  whistling  for  a  signal,  the  first 
thing  I  saw  was  the  station  lights.  They  were  all  in 
there  having  a  smoke  —  "  didn't  expect  me  back  so 
soon,"  they  said. 

Though  I  tried  my  best  to  stop,  knowing  I  must 
be  close  to  the  train,  I  hit  it  hard  enough  to  break 
the  draw-bar  in  the  car,  and  by  the  time  they  got 
that  fixed  up  there  was  no  earthly  hope  of  getting  to 
the  next  siding  ahead  of  the  limited,  so  once  more  I 
backed  over  that  crossover,  but  not  until  I  saw  a 
man  swinging  a  lantern  on  the  last  car. 

After  the  limited  got  by,  we  pulled  across  once 
more,  and  by  this  time  it  was  doubtful  if  I  had  water 
enough  to  get  to  the  siding ;  but  as  we  had  all  night 
before  us  now,  I  let  her  take  it  easy,  and  got  there 
after  a  while,  with  the  tank  dry  and  the  boiler  not 
much  better.  I  got  down  to  oil  while  the  fireman 


180      THE  GENERAL  MANAGER'S  STORY 

was  taking  water,  and  discovered  that  the  link-lifting 
spring  was  broken,  and  while  I  was  looking  at  it  and 
wondering  how  that  could  have  happened  without 
my  knowing  it,  the  head  brakeman  came  up  with  an 
order  for  me  to  weigh  that  coal. 

My  back  was  almost  broken,  and  I  was  more  than 
half  dead  with  fatigue  and  worry,  and  now  I  had  to 
weigh  thirty  cars  of  coal  without  a  lifting  spring. 
The  big  cast-iron  links  and  long  eccentric  rods  must 
have  weighed  at  least  two  hundred  pounds,  and  as  it 
is  necessary  in  putting  cars  on  the  scale  to  move  the 
engine  back  and  forth  continually,  I  saw  what  a  nice 
time  I  was  going  to  have  handling  that  old  reverse 
lever. 

There  was  a  way  freight  engine  lying  in  a  spur 
back  of  the  station,  so  I  telegraphed  to  the  train-de- 
spatcher,  telling  him  how  I  was  fixed,  and  asking  per 
mission  to  use  that  engine  to  weigh  the  coal  with. 
The  answer  I  got  was  short,  but  not  sweet :  "  Use 
the  engine  you  have."  Back  I  went  to  the  yard,  and 
weighed  that  coal.  In  order  to  back  her,  I  had  to 
brace  both  feet  against  the  front  of  the  cab,  and  pull 
ing  with  all  my  might  raise  the  heavy  links ;  then, 
perhaps,  I  would  have  the  misfortune  to  move  the 
cars  half  an  inch  too  far,  so  I  would  get  a  signal  to 
go  ahead  a  bit,  and  on  unhooking  the  lever  it  would 
fly  forward  with  such  force  as  nearly  to  jerk  me 
through  the  front  windows.  Remember  I  was  nearly 
dead  with  fatigue  and  hunger,  when  I  started  on  this 
most  delectable  trip.  However,  if  you  will  work  for 


FIFTY-TWO  HOURS  ON  DUTY  l8l 

a  corporation,  you  must  do  as  you're  told,  and  do 
it  when  and  how  you're  told,  too. 

I  got  the  coal  weighed,  sometime  and  somehow, 
coupled  on  to  them,  and  the  conductor  coming  ahead, 
began  to  tell  how  far  we  could  go  if  we  hurried 
up,  and  got  out  ahead  of  train  12  ;  but  I  cut  him 
short  by  telling  him  to  go  in  the  office  and  tell  Chi 
cago  that  I  couldn't  go  another  foot,  until  I  got  five 
or  six  hours'  sleep.  Off  he  went  grumbling  that 
we'd  never  git  anywhere  that  way.  But  I  knew  I 
should  be  unable  to  keep  awake,  while  he  could  lean 
back  in  his  caboose  and  snooze  all  the  way  in.  Back 
he  came  in  a  few  minutes. 

"  Chicago  says,  '  All  right.  Go  to  sleep.'  " 
I  pulled  them  into  a  convenient  siding,  picked  as 
smooth  a  lump  of  coal  as  I  could  find  in  the  tender, 
upholstered  it  with  waste,  and  spreading  my  coat  on 
the  foot-board  for  a  mattress,  dropped  the  curtain, 
and  curled  myself  in  the  short,  inconvenient,  hot,  and 
dirty  cab  for  a  few  hours'  rest  (?)  to  the  tune  of  the 
fireman's  grumbling.  He  was  the  toughest  man  I 
ever  saw  on  a  railroad  or  anywhere  else.  He  didn't 
get  fat  on  hard  work  —  there  was  no  more  flesh  on 
him  than  there  is  on  a  bird-cage  ;  but  he  could  stand 
more  grief  than  the  old  engine  herself,  and  thrive  on 
it,  too.  He  had  been  right  with  me  ever  since  we 
left  Chicago,  the  day  before,  shovelling  fine  feed  into 
the  old  kettle,  — and  she  had  an  appetite  like  a  stone- 
crusher,  —  yet  now  he  kicked  because  I  wanted  rest. 
He  said  we  might  better  go  on  in ;  it  was  only  two 


1 82      THE  GENERAL  MANAGER'S  STORY 

or  three  hours'  run,  and  then  we  could  get  proper 
rest  and  a  good  sleep.  He  couldn't  sleep  on  an  en 
gine,  and  so  he  kept  his  clack  going  until  I  begged 
him  to  be  quiet  and  let  me  sleep  anyway.  With  that 
he  got  off,  and  I  was  in  hopes  he  had  gone  back  to 
the  caboose. 

My  back  ached  so,  I  was  so  tired,  and  my  position 
was  so  cramped  and  uncomfortable,  that  it  was  some 
time  before  I  could  even  doze.  Just  as  I  began  to 
drop  off,  I  heard  some  one  step  up  in  the  tank,  and 
glancing  through  a  hole  in  the  curtain  saw  that  it 
was  the  fireman  returning,  and  as  he  had  a  cigar  in 
his  mouth,  I  knew  he  must  have  been  in  some  gin- 
mill,  as  no  other  place  would  be  open  at  that  time 
of  night.  With  ponderous  caution  he  approached  my 
side  of  the  engine,  making  a  clattering  stumble  over 
the  fire-hook,  which  he  had  left  under  foot,  and  rais 
ing  the  corner  of  the  curtain,  peeped  cautiously  in. 

Not  caring  to  be  entertained  by  his  idle  talk,  I 
breathed  heavily  as  though  sound  asleep,  although 
it  was  an  effort  to  take  long  breaths  of  the  distillery 
perfume  which  he  wafted  into  my  ill-ventilated  cham 
ber.  However,  I  felt  that  I  was  suffering  in  a  good 
cause,  as  I  believed  that  if  left  to  himself  he  must 
eventually  go  to  sleep. 

Not  he ;  he  stood  in  the  tender,  looking  around 
awhile,  and  scratching  himself,  then  he  carefully 
picked  up  the  hook,  and  laid  it  with  a  clink  on  top 
of  the  tank,  opened  both  the  oil  and  tool  boxes  and 
looked  into  them  vacantly  for  a  while,  shut  each  of 


FIFTY-TWO  HOURS  ON  DUTY  183 

them  with  some  noise,  just  enough  to  be  irritating, 
and  got  down. 

"  Thank  the  Lord,"  thought  I,  "  he's  gone  to  get 
another  drink,  and  maybe  he'll  stay  till  morning." 

Not  at  all.  I  soon  heard  a  peculiar  hissing,  grat 
ing  sound,  that  told  me  he  was  pulling  the  flue-rod 
out  from  the  tank-truck  bolsters,  where  he  always 
carried  it.  So  the  flues  were  to  be  bored !  I  knew 
that  would  put  the  everlasting  veto  to  my  hopes 
of  getting  any  sleep  that  night ;  and  though  I  might 
have  forbidden  him  doing  it,  I  was  so  astonished  at 
this  display  of  endurance  on  his  part  that  I  was 
really  ashamed  to  say  a  word. 

He  went  at  his  job  with  the  most  elaborate  pre 
cautions  against  making  noise,  but  only  succeeded 
in  making  more,  if  anything.  I  lay  there  and 
watched  him  through  the  hole  in  the  curtain,  his 
face  shining  with  perspiration  in  spots  where  he  had 
wiped  off  the  coal  dust,  as  he  squatted  in  the  coal 
and  peered  into  the  furnace,  ramming,  twisting, 
partly  withdrawing  and  then  savagely  thrusting  in 
the  old  flue-rod.  Listening  to  the  monotonous 
scrape  of  the  rod  across  the  bottom  of  the  door,  at 
last  I  dozed  off,  as  it  seemed  for  about  a  minute. 

Somebody  was  shaking  my  shoulder  and  saying, 
"Hey!  hey!"  I  looked  up,  dazed  and  wondering, 
into  the  fireman's  grimy  face.  "  Seven's  just  gone, 
an'  if  we  foller  her,  we  c'n  go  right  in,"  said  he. 
"  I've  got  the  flues  all  punched  out,  an'  a  good  fire ; 
hurry  up." 


1 84      THE  GENERAL  MANAGER'S  STORY 

With  great  difficulty  I  extricated  myself  from  the 
reverse  lever  and  seat  box,  and  crawled  painfully  to 
my  feet.  I  couldn't  realize  at  first  where  I  was  or 
what  was  going  on.  It  was  just  getting  daylight,  a 
lovely  morning,  and  as  I  looked  about  the  yard,  try 
ing  to  locate  myself,  my  eyes  fell  on  the  coal  train, 
and  memory  returned  with  a  rush. 

I  asked  the  fireman  what  it  was  he  had  said  to  me; 
he  repeated  it,  and  I  answered  sleepily,  "  All  right." 

Seven  was  the  midnight  train  out  of  Chicago,  and 
if  she  had  gone,  there  would  certainly  be  ample  time 
for  us  to  get  in  before  the  first  morning  train  ar 
rived.  I  was  too  dead  to  look  at  my  watch,  so  I 
took  the  fireman's  word  for  it,  whistled  for  the 
switch  two  or  three  times,  and  as  nobody  showed  up, 
I  gave  her  a  little  steam  to  stretch  the  train  out,  and 
then  reversing,  gave  her  an  everlasting  set-back  on 
them,  at  the  same  time  calling  for  the  switch.  I  did 
this  three  times  before  the  fireman,  who  was  watch- 
ing  back  on  his  side,  said  that  somebody  was  coming. 
Up  came  the  conductor,  mad  as  a  hornet,  wanted  to 
know  what  in  h —  I  was  trying  to  do.  "  Trying  to 
wake  you  up  so  we  can  get  out  of  here.  You  was  in 
a  terrible  pucker  to  go  last  night  when  I  wasn't  able 
to,  but  now  I'm  ready." 

"  Well,  you  needn't  smash  everything  all  to  pieces, 
jest  cause  you're  ready !  The  first  time  you  set  back 
on  'em  you  upsot  the  stove,  an'  all  the  pipe  an'  fire 
was  rollin'  round  in  the  caboose,  an'  then  while  we 
was  tryin'  to  pick  it  up  an'  git  the  fire  out,  you  come 


FIFTY-TWO  HOURS  ON  DUTY  185 

back  twice  more,  an'  broke  all  our  dishes  an'  sot  a 
lot  of  our  clo'es  afire.  I  don't  see  nothin'  so  al 
mighty  smart  about  that  —  are  ye  ready  ter  go?" 

"Yes,  yes !  get  that  gate  open  and  let  us  out;  have 
ye  got  a  flag  out  ? " 

"Til  tend  ter  the  flag."  And  so,  grumbling  about 
the  damage  in  his  caboose,  he  opened  the  switch,  and 
we  were  soon  jouncing  along  at  a  fairly  good  gait. 
I  was  still  sleepy  and  dead ;  had  to  keep  my  head 
out  in  the  sharp  morning  air  to  keep  awake  at  all. 
Arrived  at  a  water-station  about  half-way,  I  told  the 
fireman  he  had  better  fill  the  tank,  as  there  could 
hardly  be  enough  in  it  to  take  us  through.  While 
I  was  oiling,  the  conductor  came  up  and  asked  if  I 
was  going  to  sidetrack  there.  I  looked  at  him  a  full 
minute  before  I  could  get  it  through  my  head  what 
he  was  driving  at.  Then  I  told  him,  "  No,  certainly 
not ;  why  should  I  sidetrack  here  ? " 

"How  fur  ye  goin'  fer  seven  ? " 

"All  the  way." 

"  What  time's  she  due  here  ? " 

"  Fifty-seven." 

"  What  time  ye  got  now ! " 

I  looked  at  my  watch ;  it  was  forty-eight.  I  asked 
the  conductor  if  we  were  clear  of  the  switch. 

"Yes." 

"  Have  you  got  it  open  ? " 

"Yes." 

"Well,  gimme  a  signal." 

I  jumped  on  the  engine,  and  with  the  conductor 


1 86      THE  GENERAL  MANAGER'S  STORY 

giving  a  back-up  signal,  I  jolted  those  cars  into  the 
siding  fully  as  fast  as  it  is  safe  to  back  over  a  frog, 
and  called  the  flag  just  in  time  to  prevent  seven's 
engineer  from  getting  a  sight  of  it,  though  he  saw 
the  man,  and  told  me  afterwards  that  he  "  guessed  " 
I  hadn't  been  in  the  switch  "more  'n  a  week." 

Then  the  fireman  and  I  had  a  little  argument  as  to 
what  it  was  that  he  saw  when  he  thought  seven  had 
passed  us  in  the  yard.  As  I  was  now  fairly  well 
awake,  I  was  able  to  figure  the  time  back,  and  the 
only  passenger  train  on  the  road  at  that  time  was  one 
going  the  other  way.  After  I  had  proved  it  by  the 
time  table,  so  that  there  was  no  doubt  about  it,  he 
finally  admitted  that  "  By  gum,  he  guessed  mebbe  I 
was  right."  While  he  had  been  boring  the  flues,  he 
had  also  been  figuring  in  his  mind  as  to  what  would 
be  the  best  time  for  us  to  leave,  and  decided  that  if 
we  followed  seven  we  would  be  all  right,  which  was 
perfectly  correct ;  then,  with  his  mind  full  of  seven, 
he  got  down  to  put  away  his  flue-rod,  and  hearing  a 
train  go  by,  thought,  of  course,  it  must  be  seven. 
This  incident  taught  me  never  to  take  anybody's 
word  for  anything  that  I  could  verify  for  myself. 

"Well,"  said  I,  "we've  only  got  about  twenty 
miles  farther  to  go,  and  I  do  hope  we'll  live  to  land 
this  train  in  the  yard  —  I've  been  with  it  so  long  that 
I  take  a  kind  of  fatherly  interest  in  it." 

It  would  seem  as  if  that  most  unlovable  damsel, 
"  Misfortune,"  had  at  last  tired  of  worrying  us ;  for 
after  seven  got  away,  we  proceeded  to  our  destination 


FIFTY-TWO  HOURS  ON  DUTY  l8/ 

without  further  mishap,  shoved  the  train  away,  and 
gave  up  the  engine  to  the  hostler.  Having  been 
fifty-two  hours  on  her  without  rest  (for  the  short 
spell  of  comparative  quiet  in  the  yard  could  not  be 
so  termed),  I  entered  on  the  register  this  request, 
"Have  been  fifty-two  hours  on  duty.  Do  not  call 
me  until  I  have  had  eight  hours'  sleep, — 9.30  A.M." 
I  then  crawled  slowly  and  painfully  over  to  the  hotel 
and  went  to  bed. 

I  was  so  completely  fagged  out,  that  it  was  some 
little  time  before  my  aching  back  would  allow  me  to 
sleep.  I  had  just  dropped  off  when  I  was  rudely 
shaken  by  the  caller,  and  saluted  with  "  Hey !  hey  ! 
are  ye  awake  now  ?  Come,  I've  been  callin'  ye  fer 
ten  minutes  ;  you're  wanted  for  a  stock  train.  Hurry 
up  now ;  your  engine  is  all  ready ;  train's  standing  on 
main  track  waiting  fer  ye."  When  I  got  my  wits 
collected  so  as  to  realize  who  I  was,  and  who  he  was, 
and  what  he  was  talking  about,  I  asked  him  the  time. 
"Ten-fifteen." 

"  What !  have  I  only  been  forty-five  minutes  off  of 
that  engine  ? " 

"That's  all." 

Without  another  word  I  tumbled  back  on  the 
pillow  and  pulled  the  bedclothes  over  my  head,  but 
he  understood  his  business ;  he  had  been  calling 
unwilling  railroaders  for  four  years,  and  wouldn't  be 
denied.  For  a  while  he  shook,  and  pleaded  with  me, 
and  then  realizing  the  seriousness  of  the  case,  he 
snatched  off  the  bedclothes.  That  was  the  last  straw. 


188  THE  GENERAL  MANAGER'S  STORY 

I  jumped  out  of  bed  and  made  a  dive  for  him  ;  but  he 
had  often  seen  that  done  before,  and  was  outside  the 
door  before  I  could  reach  him,  and  with  a  parting 
shot  through  the  crack  of  the  door,  "  Hurry  up  now ; 
they're  waitin'  fer  ye,"  he  left. 

I  gathered  up  my  bedclothes  and  again  crawled 
uncomfortably  into  bed,  the  clothes  somehow  resolv 
ing  themselves  into  inconvenient  knots  and  lumps ; 
whereby  my  extremities  and  certain  prominent  parts 
of  my  anatomy  were  exposed  to  the  disagreeable  tem 
perature  of  the  contract-built,  well-ventilated  hotel 
bedroom ;  but  I  was  too  sleepy  and  inert  to  attempt 
to  straighten  out  the  tangle,  so  I  lay  and  shivered 
miserably,  while  a  more  or  less  well-defined  idea 
oozed  through  my  soggy  brain,  that  I  hadn't  seen 
the  last  of  that  caller,  for  he  had  a  reputation  which 
he  had  built  up  under  most  discouraging  circum 
stances  in  a  difficult  business. 

Sure  enough;  just  as  I  was  beginning  to  get  my 
ideas  into  a  pleasant  state  of  haziness  once  more,  the 
door  was  fired  open  with  a  bang,  an  Indian  yell 
greeted  my  outraged  sense  of  hearing,  and  rolling 
over,  I  beheld  the  exultant  countenance  of  mine 
enemy,  safely  outside  the  door  this  time,  and  hold 
ing  up  for  my  inspection  a  sheet  of  dirty  yellow 
colored  paper,  which  I  knew  was  a  telegraph  form. 
"Read  that  now,  an'  see  if  ye'll  get  up  or  not." 

I  took  the  paper  and  read  :  "  Engineer  M , 

don't  you  delay  this  stock  train.  W.  S.  B." 

A    combined    order    and    threat   from    the    train- 


FIFTY-TWO  HOURS  ON  DUTY  189 

despatcher  signed  with  the  division  superintendent's 
initials,  which  are  always  used  by  the  despatcher  on 
duty,  —  a  peremptory  order,  to  be  urxquestioningly 
obeyed.  I  borrowed  the  caller's  pencil  and  wrote 
underneath  the  order :  "  W.  S.  B.,  —  I  have  been 
fifty-two  hours  on  duty,  am  unfit  to  take  stock  train 
or  any  other  train.  J.  B.  M."  I  handed  it  to  the 
caller,  and  telling  him  that  if  he  disturbed  me  again 
for  any  reason,  even  though  the  house  should  be 
afire,  I  would  brain  him,  I  once  more  retired;  and 
although  I  had  no  doubt  that  I  had  signed  my 
death-warrant,  I  slept  the  sleep  of  the  utterly  weary. 

In  answer  to  the  expected  letter,  I  called  on  the 
superintendent  when  I  returned,  and  got  my  medi 
cine,  —  thirty  days  suspension  for  refusing  to  obey 
an  order.  I  was  lucky  to  get  off  so.  He  told  me 
that  all  that  saved  my  job  was  the  fact  that  an 
engine  came  in  off  the  branch  opportunely  and 
brought  the  stock  train  through.  The  fact  that  I 
was  physically  incapacitated  did  not  justify  me  in 
the  least  in  refusing  that  order  with  his  initials 
attached.  I  have  always  had  an  idea,  however,  that 
my  troublesome  habit  of  appealing  to  the  general 
manager  had  as  much  to  do  with  preventing  my  dis 
charge  as  the  arrival  of  the  engine  off  the  branch. 

It  was  while  I  was  hauling  freight  that  the  ad 
vance  guard  of  that  countless  horde  of  tramps  who 
now  infest  the  country  made  their  appearance  on 
our  road.  I  shall  never  forget  the  first  one  that  I 
saw ;  for  his  personality  has  always  remained  in  my 


THE  GENERAL  MANAGER'S  STORY 

memory  as  the  Moses  who  was  leading  the  march 
of  the  hungry  tatterdemalions  of  the  east  to  the 
promised  land  of  the  great,  indefinite  "west." 

It  was  a  fine,  moonlight  night,  and  I  had  left  the 
other  end  of  the  division  with  a  heavy  train.  Five 
miles  out  there  was  a  steep  though  short  grade  that 
we  considered  ourselves  lucky  to  surmount  without 
"doubling";  but  as  I  had  managed  to  get  a  little 
work  done  on  my  engine  last  trip,  —  boiler  washed, 
leaky  tubes  rolled  out,  etc.,  —  she  was  steaming  finely, 
and  she  walked  that  train  up  the  grade,  slowly,  to  be 
sure,  but  gallantly  for  all  that.  Just  as  she  pitched 
over  the  brow  of  the  hill  and  began  to  gather  head 
way  a  bit,  I  fancied  I  saw  something  move,  out  on 
the  front  end.  At  first  I  attributed  it  to  the  moving 
of  a  shadow  in  the  bright  moonlight  and  the  gentle 
rolling  and  pitching  of  the  engine;  but  as  I  natu 
rally  kept  my  eye  on  it,  I  presently  saw  a  human 
foot  rise  for  an  instant  into  the  bright,  yellow  moon 
light  and  drop  again  out  of  sight  behind  the  steam- 
chest. 

Disquieting  visions  of  a  mangled  body  on  my 
front  end, — that  I  had  "picked  up,"  somewhere, 
some  unfortunate  gasping  his  life  out  in  semi-con 
sciousness,  or,  worse  yet,  a  badly  but  not  fatally 
injured  person  struggling,  perhaps,  to  make  his  pres 
ence  known,  —  gave  me  a  creepy  sensation  for  a 
minute;  and  then,  without  saying  a  word  to  the 
fireman,  I  cut  her  back  close  to  the  centre,  eased 
off  my  throttle,  that  she  might  not  gain  too  rapidly 


FIFTY-TWO  HOURS  ON  DUTY  19 1 

in  speed,  and  went  out  on  the  running-board.  There 
was  surely  a  body  there  lying  crosswise  and  close  up 
to  the  smoke-box  door ;  I  could  see  the  legs  stretched 
out  motionless  on  my  side ;  hanging  on  to  the  hand 
rail,  I  stepped  down  on  the  steam-chest,  and  peered 
as  far  round  as  I  could ;  there  lay  a  fellow  at  full 
length,  his  head  resting  on  his  hand,  riding  along 
comfortably  and  smoking  an  old  stub  of  a  clay  pipe. 

"Hey!"  said  I;  "hey!" 

He  turned  his  head  leisurely  in  my  direction,  but 
made  no  answer  nor  did  he  appear  to  move.  The 
train  was  now  gathering  headway,  and  I  feared  every 
moment  that  he  would  be  pitched  off  and  ground 
under  the  wheels ;  so  I  shouted  to  him  to  get  up 
and  come  into  the  cab.  He  very  leisurely  straight 
ened  himself  up  and  followed  me  back,  much  to 
the  evident  surprise  of  the  fireman,  who  had  anx 
iously  peered  out  to  see  what  had  become  of  me. 

I  told  him  to  sit  on  the  box  behind  me,  which  he 
did  without  a  word ;  having  got  the  train  adjusted  to 
its  gait,  and  having  a  long  stretch  of  good  running- 
ground  ahead,  I  turned  and  asked  him  how  he  came 
on  my  front  end. 

"Got  on  when  you  was  comin'  slow  up  the  hill." 

"  Where  are  you  going  ? " 

"West." 

"West?  Well,  where  is  west?  Some  people  call 
this  west." 

"  Oh,  I  dunno ;  west  is  all  I  know ;  when  I  started 
I  thought  I'd  go  west  somewheres  an'  grow  up  with 


THE  GENERAL  MANAGER'S  STORY 

the  country,  but  I've  'bout  concluded  not  to  bother ; 
the  further  I  go,  the  more  I  git  disgusted  with  every 
thing.  I  see  so  many  men  that  have  had  just  about 
the  same  experience  that  I  have,  an'  they  all  say 
they'll  never  be  any  man's  slave  ag'in,  an'  I  believe 
they're  'bout  right.  What  does  the  man  have  that 
works,  anyway  ?  In  the  first  place  he's  got  to  hum 
ble  himself  an'  worry  his  everlastin'  soul-case  out  to 
git  a  job,  an'  then  when  he's  got  it,  his  trouble's  only 
just  begun :  bosses  never  know  when  a  man  has 
done  enough.  The  first  thing  it's  a  reduction  of  pay, 
or  a  lay  off,  or  somebody  offers  to  do  it  for  less 
money ;  an'  just  as  you've  got  yerself  all  settled  down, 
to  be  a  little  comfortable,  an'  makin'  plans  for  the 
future,  you're  on  the  outs  ag'in ;  your  dough-dish  is 
upset,  an'  then  there's  more  worry  an'  brain-fag,  to 
hunt  up  another  master;  for  that's  just  what  it 
amounts  to.  An'  what  do  you  git  for  it  ?  Stable 
room  an'  fodder — same's  a  car  horse ;  that's  all.  Now 
I'm  a  tramp,  no  livin'  man's  my  boss ;  nor  I  won't 
take  a  word  o'  clack  from  nobody  neither  —  except 
policemen  in  the  cities.  I  don't  have  to  worry  about 
where  my  grub  is  comin'  from.  If  what  I  git  at  one 
house  don't  suit  me,  all  I  got  to  do  is  throw  it  away 
an'  go  to  the  next.  I  git  plenty  to  eat,  just  as  good 
as  what  other  folks  has ;  when  I  want  clothes,  all 
I've  got  to  do  is  ask  for  'em.  I  don't  git  the  best,  of 
course,  but  then  I  don't  have  to  go  much  into 
society,  and  rags  are  always  in  fashion ;  an'  you  bet 
your  sweet  life  I  don't  sleep  outdoors,  nor  allow  my 


FIFTY-TWO  HOURS  ON  DUTY  193 

health  to  be  endangered  by  exposure  to  the  elements. 
No,  sir;  I  take  good  care  of  myself  —  better 'n  I  ever 
did  in  my  life  before.  Why,  young  man,  when  I 
look  back  an'  think  of  the  thirty  hard  slavish  years 
that  I  put  in  steamboatin'  back  there  in  the  east, 
three  hundred  and  sixty-five  days  to  the  year,  night 
an'  day,  day  an'  night,  well  fed,  to  be  sure,  but  never 
half  sleep  enough,  scrimpin'  an'  savin',  denyin*  my 
self  all  the  comforts,  an'  most  of  the  necessaries  of 
life,  so  's  to  git  ahead,  an'  then  look  at  myself  an*  see 
what  I've  got  to  show  for  it,  no  wonder  that  I 
swear  by  the  great  god  of  thieves  an'  tramps  that  I'll 
never  work  ag'in." 

"  Surely,"  said  I,  "  if  as  you  say  you  worked  and 
saved  for  thirty  years,  you  must  have  accumulated 
something." 

He  looked  steadily  out  of  the  window,  and  smoked 
furiously  for  some  time ;  then  knocking  the  ashes  out 
of  his  pipe,  he  consigned  it  to  some  hidden  recepta 
cle  in  his  ragged  coat,  and  turning  to  me,  said  in  a 
hard  voice,  and  in  language  that  was  entirely  devoid 
of  slang,  "  Fifteen  months  ago,  I  wouldn't  have  sold 
out  for  five  thousand  dollars.  I  went  steamboating 
when  I  was  a  boy,  and,  as  I  said,  I  worked  and 
scrimped.  Ten  years  ago  I  had  a  good  job  and  a 
little  money.  I  married  the  girl  that  I  used  to  keep 
company  with  before  I  left  home,  and  built  a  little 
house,  just  outside  the  city  where  I  worked. 

"I  wasn't  able  to  be  at  home  much,  but  the 
thought  of  the  wife  and  boy  encouraged  me  to  work, 


194  THE  GENERAL   MANAGER'S   STORY 

and  I  enjoyed  my  labor,  knowing  that  it  was  for 
them. 

"  I  worked  for  one  man  for  fifteen  years  ;  he  owned 
a  large  fleet  of  steam  vessels  of  all  kinds,  from  little 
bits  of  tugs  to  great  big  excursion  boats.  He  is 
many  times  a  millionnaire,  has  held  high  offices  in  the 
state,  and  is  famed  for  his  philanthropy.  The  money 
that  he  spends  in  charity  in  any  one  year  would 
make  you  and  me  rich  for  life. 

"  I  knew  where  there  was  an  old  steam  lighter  that 
could  be  bought  cheap,  and  with  a  little  fixing  up  be 
made  serviceable ;  so  when  I  saw  a  new  factory  in 
course  of  erection  one  day  about  ten  miles  out  of 
town,  I  made  inquiries,  got  acquainted  with  the 
owner,  satisfied  him  that  lighterage  was  cheaper  than 
railroad  transportation  for  his  goods,  and  to  make  a 
long  story  short,  made  an  agreement  with  him 
whereby  I  was  to  do  his  work  by  the  month.  He 
wouldn't  make  any  longer  agreement,  because  he 
said  that  if  rates  went  down,  he  purposed  to  have  the 
benefit  of  the  lower  prices. 

"However,  I  was  satisfied,  for  I  knew  I  could 
do  his  work  as  cheaply  as  anybody ;  so  I  mortgaged 
my  house,  and  with  what  money  I  had  in  bank 
I  bought  and  fitted  up  the  old  lighter. 

"When  I  resigned  my  job,  my  boss  was  very 
anxious  to  know  the  why  and  wherefore.  I  told 
him  I  thought  I  had  a  chance  to  better  myself ;  and 
he  said  that  although  he  hated  to  have  his  old 
employees  leave  him,  still  if  I  could  better  myself, 


FIFTY-TWO  HOURS  ON  DUTY  195 

he  was  glad  of  it,  and  if  I  needed  any  advice  or 
help  at  any  time,  to  let  him  know. 

"I  thanked  him  for  his  kindness,  and  started  in 
business.  I  did  first  rate  right  from  the  start, 
made  from  thirty  to  fifty  dollars  a  day  clear,  and 
was  looking  forward  to  the  time  when  I  should 
have  my  boat  and  home  both  clear  of  debt. 

"I  had  only  been  running  the  job  three  weeks, 
when  on  my  return  to  town  one  night  I  received 
a  telegram,  which  read,  'Come  home  at  once; 
Billy  drowned.'  That  was  my  boy,  the  little  eight- 
year-old  fellow,  that  I  thought  more  of  than  I  did  of 
my  immortal  soul.  I  put  another  captain  in  charge 
of  my  boat,  and  started  for  home  with  a  heavy 
heart. 

"Billy  had  been  drowned  while  fishing  for  eels 
after  dark.  He  was  carried  home,  and  when  his 
mother  saw  her  only  child  brought  in  dripping, 
his  little  hands  hanging  down,  she  swooned,  and 
in  falling,  upset  the  tea  table  with  the  lamp  upon 
it.  Instantly  the  room  was  ablaze,  and  it  was  all 
the  neighbors  could  do  to  drag  the  insensible  form 
of  my  wife,  fatally  burned,  out  of  the  house. 

"The  house  itself,  with  my  child's  remains,  was 
totally  consumed.  A  neighbor  had  sent  me  the 
news  of  Billy's  death,  thinking  it  best,  I  suppose, 
to  deal  the  blow  piecemeal.  It  was  midnight  when 
I  got  it,  and  two  hours  later  when  I  stood  half- 
crazed  looking  at  the  black  spot  on  the  ground 
where  my  home  had  been. 


196      THE  GENERAL  MANAGER'S  STORY 

"They  took  me  to  my  wife.  She  was  delirious 
and  unrecognizable.  She  died  before  daylight,  and 
I  buried  her  the  same  day.  I  went  back  to  work, 
for  my  creditors  must  be  paid.  The  next  trip, 
when  I  returned  to  town,  I  met  my  former  em 
ployer  on  the  street.  I  thought  that,  having  heard 
of  my  trouble,  he  was  coming  to  express  sym 
pathy  ;  for  God  knows  I  needed  it  badly  enough. 

"  He  walked  up  to  me,  a  hard  glitter  in  his  eye, 
and  said, — 

"  *  I  hear,  Fielding,  that  you've  gone  into  the 
transportation  business.' 

" '  Yes,  sir,'  said  I ;  *  in  a  small  way/ 

"  '  Small  or  big,  you're  in  my  way  ;  do  you  under 
stand?  I  won't  tolerate  any  competition  that  I 
can  crush,  and  I  can  crush  you.  Make  the  most 
of  your  contract,  for  when  your  month  is  up,  you're 
done ;  and  inside  of  three  months  I'll  have  your 
hide  hanging  on  the  fence.' 

"When  my  month  expired,  my  employer  said  he 
had  made  other  arrangements,  and  would  not  need 
my  boat.  I  asked  permission  to  bid  for  the  work. 
He  took  a  paper  from  his  desk,  and  said,  'Can 
you  underbid  that  ? '  It  was  an  offer  from  my 
former  employer  to  carry  his  goods  three  months 
for  nothing. 

"The  next  month  I  didn't  make  money  enough 
to  pay  expenses.  The  crew  libelled  the  boat  for 
their  wages.  My  creditors  swarmed  round  me 
like  flies  round  a  dead  horse.  When  I  could  get 


FIFTY-TWO  HOURS  ON  DUTY  197 

nothing  else,  I  could  get  plenty  of  what  I  never 
wanted  before, — rum.  I  met  my  old  boss  one 
day  when  I  was  recovering  from  a  long  drunk,  and 
asked  him  for  a  job.  He  told  me  he  would  have 
me  arrested  if  I  ever  spoke  to  him  in  public  again. 
That  was  the  last  straw.  I  snatched  a  rung  from  a 
near-by  cart,  and  aimed  a  murderous  blow  at  him ; 
but  in  addition  to  his  other  accomplishments,  he 
was  a  trained  athlete.  He  wrenched  it  from  me, 
nearly  killed  me  with  it,  and  then  sent  me  to  jail 
for  three  months  for  attempted  atrocious  assault 
and  battery,  while  the  newspapers  printed  editorials 
commenting  on  the  dangerous  state  of  society, 
when  a  gentleman  could  not  run  his  own  business 
to  suit  himself  without  taking  the  risk  of  a  sand 
bagging  from  discharged  employees. 

"  From  the  inmates  of  the  workhouse  I  learned  that 
my  case  was  only  one  of  hundreds.  Men  were  sur 
prised  and  laughed  when  they  found  that  I  thought 
my  experience  an  unusual  one.  I  had  been  so  busy 
working  all  my  life  that  I  didn't  know  anything ;  but 
when  I  came  out  I  had  learned  a  new  lesson,  and 
now  that  I  have  time  to  observe  what  is  going  on  in 
the  world,  I  am  convinced  more  and  more  every  day 
that  the  workhouse  philosophers  were  right :  there 
is  only  a  penny  a  day  apiece  for  them  that  work 
and  them  that  play ;  and  they  that  play  get  both 
pennies.  I  tell  you,  my  young  friend,  it's  getting 
harder  and  harder  for  honest  men  to  make  a  living 
in  the  east,  and  it  will  be  the  same  here  before  long. 


198  THE  GENERAL   MANAGER'S  STORY 

When  one  man  gets  control  of  a  million  dollars  he 
can  gobble  up  all  the  poor  men  and  their  earnings, 
that  he  has  a  mind  to.  They  can't  help  themselves. 
And  you  mark  my  words,  the  time  is  not  far  off  — 
you  will  probably  live  to  see  it  —  when  the  tramps 
will  be  thicker  out  here  on  these  prairies  than  they 
are  in  the  eastern  cities  now.  I  guess  you're  goin' 
slow  enough,  so  't  I  kin  git  off  here.  I  don't  care  ter 
go  in  ter  town  ter  night ;  folks  might  not  be  expectin' 
me.  Gimme  a  chew  o'  terbaccer  'fore  I  go.  Don't 
use  it,  hey  ?  Good  boy ;  you'll  git  over  that  all 
right.  Wai,  never  mind.  I  kin  find  a  cigar  stub 
some'ers.  So  long." 

I  was  slowed  down  to  about  ten  miles  per  hour, 
entering  the  yard  with  its  bewildering  maze  of 
signals  and  switches.  He  swung  a  moment  on  the 
step,  and  then  dropped  off.  I  glanced  back,  and 
saw  him  floundering  over  a  frog ;  the  corner  of  the 
head  car  hit  him  in  the  back,  and  he  fell  between  it 
and  the  tender.  I  stopped  as  soon  as  possible.  We 
extricated  the  dismembered  remains  and  delivered 
them  to  the  coroner.  He  was  my  first  tramp,  but 
how  many  times  since  have  I  had  reason  to  remem 
ber  his  prophecy.  In  less  than  two  years  after  that, 
the  road  was  infested  with  them.  The  same  grade 
where  the  ex-steamboat  captain  boarded  me  that 
night  became  a  favorite  resort  for  such  as  were 
bound  westward,  and  it  was  a  common  occurrence 
for  them  to  board  the  trains  in  sufficient  numbers  to 
enable  them  to  defy  the  train  hands. 


FIFTY-TWO  HOURS  ON  DUTY  199 

Once  a  brakeman  was  thrown  off  the  top  of  a  car 
and  killed  by  them.  They  frequently  had  revolvers, 
so  that  even  if  they  were  few,  they  were  able  to  en 
force  their  demands. 


CHAPTER  XIII 

HELD  UP  —  ON  THE  HEAD  END  OF  A  PASSENGER 
TRAIN  —  UNSATISFACTORY  DIVIDENDS  —  A  TEN  PER 
CENT  CUT  —  FRANK  MANLY  AND  I  ORGANIZE  THE 

MEN 

ONE  night  as  I  was  running  along  at  a  good  gait, 
crowding  the  speed  limit  a  little,  — for  I  was  trying  to 
make  a  certain  siding  ahead  of  the  express,  —  some 
one  shook  me  roughly  by  the  shoulder,  and  said, 
"  Hey,  you  ! "  I  wondered  that  the  fireman  should 
be  so  energetic  in  addressing  me ;  so  it  was  in  a  fit 
of  ill  humor  that  I  pulled  my  head  in,  and  snarling 
out,  "  What  do  you  want  ? "  looked  along  the  barrel 
of  a  big  revolver,  and  into  a  pair  of  fierce  eyes  under 
the  brim  of  a  slouch  hat.  That  was  all  I  could  see. 
But  it  was  enough.  I  had  scraped  a  hole  in  the 
paint  on  the  gauge  lamp  globe,  to  read  orders  by, 
and  the  ray  of  light  from  it  showed  me  this  unpleas 
ant  sight.  The  cab  being  all  in  darkness,  the  gun 
and  eyes  appeared  as  if  suspended  in  space. 

There  was  also  a  voice,  and  it  said,  "  I  want  you 
to  slack  up,  right  here,  so's  we  kin  git  off." 

"All  right,  sir,"  said  I,  and  I  shut  right  off.  I 
reached  for  the  whistle  cord  to  call  for  brakes,  but 
the  voice  said,  "  Hoi'  on,  sonny ;  none  o'  that ;  'tain't 

200 


"  Looked  along  the  barrel  of  a  big  revolver."  —  p.  200. 


A  TEN  PER  CENT  CUT  2OI 

healthy  ;  "  so  I  let  her  roll.  "  Git  outer  the  way  till 
I  see,"  said  the  voice,  which,  as  the  fireman  had 
opened  the  door,  I  could  now  see  belonged  to  a  big, 
square-shouldered  six-footer.  He  took  my  place  at 
the  window,  and  when  she  had  slowed  down  suffi 
ciently,  I  could  hear  voices  in  the  rear  counting  one, 
two,  three.  They  were  counting  themselves  as  they 
jumped  off.  The  third  man,  after  calling  out  his 
number,  sang  out,  "All  right."  My  friend  with  the 
ordnance  climbed  down  on  the  step  and  dropped  off 
without  a  word,  and  I  went  on.  Presently  the  con 
ductor  came  ahead  to  know  why  I  had  shut  off.  I 
told  him  to  let  off  a  gang  of  tramps.  That  night  the 
express  was  half  an  hour  late,  and  passed  me  in  the 
siding,  at  the  rate  of  seventy  miles  an  hour. 

She  had  been  flagged  near  where  my  "tramps"  got 
off.  One  fellow  got  on  the  engine,  and  entertained 
the  engineer  and  fireman,  while  his  three  partners 
looted  the  express  car,  and  took  up  a  collection  from 
the  passengers. 

After  that,  all  freight  engines  and  cabooses  were 
furnished  with  arms,  and  as  if  by  magic  the  tramps 
deserted  our  road  for  nearly  a  year,  by  which  time  the 
guns  had  become  lost  or  stolen  or  useless,  and  gradu 
ally  they  returned,  soon  becoming  as  pestiferous  as 
before.  I  don't  think  any  of  us  would  have  used  our 
arms  though  ;  for  there  are  too  many  ways  that  they 
could  have  retaliated,  and  the  ordinary  risks  of  rail 
roading  are  sufficient,  without  making  deadly  enemies 
of  the  countless  horde  of  irresponsible  vagabonds. 


2O2  THE  GENERAL  MANAGER'S   STORY 

Owing  to  the  efforts  of  a  firm  of  real  estate  specu 
lators,  business  began  to  boom  on  the  road  to  such 
an  extent  that  two  new  suburban  trains  were  put  on, 
calling  for  three  passenger  engineers,  one  for  each 
engine,  and  one  to  swing  between  them,  and  take 
part  of  a  day  from  each,  as  the  miles  and  hours  were 
too  long. 

I  was  one  of  the  lucky  three,  and  at  last  found  my 
self  in  charge  of  the  head  end  of  a  passenger  train. 
The  change  was  like  coming  out  of  the  workhouse, 
to  sit  in  a  parlor  for  a  living.  The  engines  were 
kept  clean,  of  course,  the  time  was  not  fast,  nor  were 
the  trains  heavy,  and  every  month  I  could  tell  before 
hand  just  what  my  pay  would  be,  unless  some  unfore 
seen  accident  occurred.  Being  the  youngest,  I  had 
the  relief.  That  didn't  suit  me  very  well,  for  an  en 
gineer  always  wants  to  own  his  engine,  fix  things  to 
suit  himself,  and  have  no  one  to  interfere  with  her. 
However,  it  was  so  very  much  better  than  any  job 
I  had  ever  had,  that  for  some  time  I  thought  I  had 
reached  the  very  acme  of  my  ambition,  and  would 
never  ask  for  anything  more  ;  but  I  had  not  been  on 
the  train  six  months  before  a  condition  arose  that 
was  as  unpleasant  as  it  was  unexpected.  It  seems 
that  for  a  couple  of  years  previously  the  road  had 
not  been  paying  satisfactory  dividends,  so  the  board 
of  directors  unseated  the  president  and  general  man 
ager,  and  filled  those  offices  with  others,  pledged  to 
retrenchment.  The  new  policy  made  itself  felt  in 
our  department  at  once. 


A  TEN  PER  CENT  CUT  203 

The  shop  crews  were  reduced,  and  even  those  who 
were  retained  were  put  on  short  time.  A  howl  went 
up  at  once ;  it  was  impossible  to  get  work  done  on 
engines  and  cars,  breakdowns  on  the  road  became  the 
rule  instead  of,  as  heretofore,  the  exception ;  con 
ductors  and  engineers  had  to  do  most  of  the  repair 
ing  when  in  the  sidetrack.  The  want  of  links  and 
pins  kept  the  train  crews  on  the  lookout  for  "iron." 
As  brake-shoes  were  never  renewed  while  a  ves 
tige  remained,  several  wrecks  were  caused  by  inability 
to  stop  trains,  any  one  of  which  cost  the  company 
more  than  all  the  brake-shoes  used  on  the  road  in 
a  year,  and  for  once  "no  brakes"  became,  if  not  a 
valid,  at  least  a  reasonable  excuse. 

Cheap  oil  that  would  not  lubricate  cut  out  journals 
and  crankpins,  and  besides  the  time  lost  on  the  road 
the  cars  and  engines  had  to  be  laid  up  for  want  of 
shop  men  to  repair  them.  Waste  was  no  longer 
issued,  so  that  the  engines  became  coated  with  grease 
and  dirt,  making  it  next  to  impossible  to  detect 
a  fracture  in  any  of  the  parts.  Under  this  reform 
administration,  the  quality  of  the  fuel  became  so 
depreciated  that  it  was  impossible  to  make  time,  the 
first  result  of  which  was  that  engineers  and  firemen 
were  suspended,  and  the  next,  that  business  fell  off, 
for  people  would  neither  ship  their  goods  nor  travel 
on  a  road  where  the  service  was  so  unreliable. 

Within  three  months  two  engines  were  wrecked, 
and  their  engineers  killed  by  broken  parallel  rods 
tearing  up  through  the  cabs,  like  huge  iron  flails, 


204  THE  GENERAL  MANAGER'S   STORY 

and  flogging  them  to  death.  In  the  suit  for  dam 
ages,  brought  by  their  widows,  as  it  was  proven  that 
the  men  had  reported  the  necessity  of  having  the 
brasses  in  those  rods  reduced  for  weeks,  but  there 
were  no  men  to  do  it,  the  company  had  to  pay 
heavy  damages.  A  broken  driving-wheel  tire  ditched 
a  passenger  train  —  more  damages. 

Discontent  was  rampant ;  grumbling  and  cursing 
at  the  management  became  the  order  of  the  day. 
There  was  not  a  mile  of  safe  track  on  the  whole 
line.  The  wrecking  train  was  hardly  ever  idle,  and 
on  more  than  one  occasion  it  became  necessary  to 
send  another  train  out  to  bring  her  in. 

While  we  were  laboring  under  these  aggravating 
inconveniences,  an  order  was  posted  on  the  bulletin 
board  to  the  effect  that  after  the  first  of  the  next 
month,  all  employees  receiving  one  dollar  and  a  half 
per  day,  or  over,  would  be  cut  ten  per  cent  until 
further  notice. 

This  included  engineers,  firemen,  conductors,  and 
brakemen.  The  men  gathered  in  knots  and  dis 
cussed  the  cut.  The  new  management  was  cordially 
damned,  and  the  question  raised,  "What  shall  we 
do  about  it  ? "  As  there  appeared  to  be  no  prospect 
of  the  men  arriving  at  an  understanding  by  such 
disunited  methods,  Frank  Manly,  who  had  remained 
my  firm  friend  and  particular  chum  ever  since  the 
fight  we  had  with  Hussey  about  promotion,  called 
for  me  one  evening,  and,  during  a  long  walk,  we  dis 
cussed  the  troubles  existing  on  the  road,  and  cud- 


"The  wrecking  train  was  hardly  ever  idle."  —  p.  204. 


A  TEN   PER  CENT  CUT  2O5 

gelled  our  brains  for  a  remedy,  with  the  result  that 
we  agreed  that  nothing  could  be  done  until  all 
employees  who  were  affected  by  the  cut  could  be 
got  together  to  argue  the  question,  adopt  resolu 
tions,  and  send  a  representative  committee  to  the 
front  with  them. 

Near  the  round-house  there  was  a  hotel,  which 
depended  almost  entirely  on  the  patronage  of  the 
railroaders,  the  upper  floor  of  which  was  a  large  hall, 
used  for  balls,  concerts,  and  so  forth.  We  decided 
that  we  should  be  perfectly  safe  in  calling  a  meeting 
there  without  consulting  Schroeder  (the  proprietor). 
As  it  was  not  desirable  that  we  should  appear  as 
ringleaders  in  the  matter,  we  adjourned  to  my  room, 
and  drew  up  two  notices,  as  follows  :  — 

NOTICE. 

All  employees  of  this  road,  engaged  in  train  service,  who  are 
dissatisfied  with  bulletin  order  No.  3,  of  June  I4th,  which  orders 
a  reduction  of  ten  per  cent  in  all  salaries  of  $1.50,  or  over,  are 
requested  to  meet  at  Schroeder's  assembly  room  on  the  evening 

of  July  ist,  at  8.15,  sharp.     By  order  of 

THE  COMMITTEE. 

These  we  printed  with  pen  and  ink,  so  as  to  make 
it  impossible  for  any  one  to  trace  our  handwriting ; 
for,  never  having  written  anything  of  importance 
before,  we  had  an  exaggerated  idea  of  our  present 
undertaking. 

We  dated  the  meeting  three  days  ahead,  to  give 
the  men  who  were  at  the  other  end  of  the  division 
a  chance  to  see  the  notice  on  their  return,  and  so 


2O6      THE  GENERAL  MANAGER'S  STORY 

get  all  hands  to  talking  about  it.  Frank  was  to  go 
out  at  twelve  o'clock  that  night,  so  it  was  agreed  that 
he  should  make  it  his  business  to  post  one  copy  on 
the  round-house  bulletin  board,  while  I  would  hand 
the  other  to  a  conductor  whom  we  felt  that  we  could 
trust  and  get  him  to  do  the  same  on  their  board. 

The  next  day  excitement  ran  high.  Who  were 
"the  committee"?  Who  had  appointed  them? 
"  Are  ye  goin'  to  the  meetin'  ? "  We  began  to  feel 
a  little  alarmed  at  the  evident  magnitude  of  the 
movement  we  had  started,  but  we  met  in  a  secluded 
place  at  the  other  end  of  the  division  next  day,  and 
bolstered  each  other's  courage  by  declaring  that  we 
were  delighted  with  the  prospects  of  an  enthusiastic 
meeting,  and  promised  each  other  to  see  the  thing 
through  now  that  it  had  started  so  auspiciously.  I 
saw  Schroeder  that  night  and  promised  to  take  up  a 
collection  to  pay  for  the  room  and  light,  guaranteeing 
to  make  good  myself  any  shortage  that  might  result. 

When  the  time  arrived,  Frank  and  I  strolled  down 
to  the  hotel.  Jake  had  faithfully  performed  his  part, 
the  room  was  brilliantly  illuminated  and  filled  with 
chairs,  but  with  the  exception  of  ourselves,  not  a 
railroader  was  in  sight,  although  it  was  always  a 
favorite  lounging-place,  and  for  some  time  past  had 
been  especially  well  patronized  by  the  disgruntled. 
Half-past  eight — nine  o'clock — half-past  nine  —  this 
would  never  do ;  we  each  started  in  a  different  direc 
tion  to  see  if  we  could  round  up  enough  men  to 
make  a  showing,  agreeing  to  return  in  half  an  hour. 


A  TEN   PER  CENT  CUT  2O? 

I  went  directly  to  the  conductors'  "  hangout,"  a 
large  waiting-room  off  the  despatcher's  office.  I 
found  fifteen  or  twenty  men  —  conductors  and  brake- 
men —  discussing  the  proposed  meeting.  I  entered 
into  the  conversation  and  soon  found  that  not  a  man 
of  them  dared  take  part  in  it,  or  even  express  him 
self  in  favor  of  it,  for  fear  that  he  would  lose  his  job. 
I  soon  assumed  a  leading  part  in  the  conversation, 
and  they  grouped  themselves  around  me,  while  I 
gave  them  an  exhortation  that  would  have  done 
credit  to  a  camp  meeting.  I  told  them  that  we  were 
being  robbed  of  our  hard  earnings,  in  order  that  our 
wages  might  be  used  to  pay  dividends  to  wealthy 
stockholders,  who  had  never  strained  a  muscle  or 
shed  a  drop  of  sweat  to  make  the  road  a  success, 
while  we  had  been  doing  that  very  thing  for  years. 
I  told  them  that  if  the  road  was  not  a  financial  suc 
cess,  it  was  no  fault  of  ours,  and  we  were  not  obliged 
to  pay  for  the  blunders  of  the  management.  When 
the  road  was  paying  big  dividends  they  never  thought 
of  sharing  them  with  us  by  raising  our  pay,  but  any 
excuse  was  good  enough  for  a  reduction. 

I  told  them  that  while  the  amount  taken  from  us 
would  impoverish  us  greatly,  it  would  not  add  to  the 
already  luxurious  living  of  the  stockholders  a  single 
case  of  champagne,  or  a  new  suit  of  livery  for  their 
flunkies.  I  reminded  them  that  this  same  unprac 
tical  new  management  had,  by  their  penny-wise, 
and  pound-foolish  operation  of  the  road,  lost  patron 
age,  and  incurred  costly  damage  suits,  which  they 


2O8  THE  GENERAL  MANAGER'S  STORY 

now  called  upon  us  —  who  on  account  of  that  same 
silly  management  were  working  harder  than  ever 
before  —  to  pay  for  out  of  our  wages,  and  to  the 
knee-quaking  argument  that  any  man  who  took  part 
in  the  movement  would  be  blacklisted,  discharged, 
and  damned  forevermore,  I  told  them,  that  if  only 
half  a  dozen  had  the  manhood  to  stand  out  and  pro 
test  against  the  outrage,  I  had  no  doubt  that  hell 
would  be  their  portion.  "  But,"  said  I,  "if  we  all  turn 
out  and  make  a  unanimous  demonstration,  our  very 
numbers  will  protect  us,  for  they  can't  discharge  a 
whole  division.  Certainly  no  man  has  so  far  made 
himself  so  conspicuous  in  this  movement  as  I  have 
right  here  to-night,  and  I  am  not  afraid  to  go  to  that 
meeting,  or  to  act  on  a  committee,  and  tell  the  presi 
dent  just  what  I  have  told  you.  Now  then  "  —  look 
ing  at  my  watch  —  "  the  engineers  and  firemen  are 
waiting  for  you  at  the  hall ;  they  are  determined  not 
to  submit  to  this  reduction  without  a  protest ;  I  have 
been  sent  here  to  ask  you  to  cooperate  with  us  in 
righting  this  great  wrong.  Remember  that  in  the 
meeting  you  will  have  all  the  chance  in  the  world  to 
express  your  opinions,  and  to  win  as  many  to  your 
way  of  thinking  as  you  can,  and  if  you  are  dissatis 
fied  with  the  action  taken,  you  can  withdraw  and 
refuse  to  give  it  your  sanction.  I  ask  that  every 
man  here  who  desires  to  have  his  wages  reduced,  or 
who  thinks  he  ought  to  be  made  to  contribute  to 
a  fund  to  make  good  the  losses  due  to  bungling 
management,  to  hold  up  his  hand." 


A  TEN  PER  CENT  CUT  209 

A  careful  inspection  failed  to  reveal  a  single  hand 
raised.  "That's  enough,"  said  I;  "come  on,  we're 
late  now."  And  at  the  head  of  my  partly  enthusiastic 
and  partly  weak-kneed  recruits  I  started  for  the  hall. 
During  my  impromptu  remarks,  the  crowd  had  more 
than  trebled,  men  dropping  in  every  minute  from  the 
cabooses  and  hotels,  so  that  as  far  as  numbers  were 
concerned,  I  had  a  crowd  of  sixty  or  seventy  men  ; 
but  I  knew  them,  and  was  not  over-elated  at  my 
success,  for  the  genuine  railroader,  although  he  would 
like  exceedingly  to  possess  the  earth  and  the  fulness 
thereof,  is  so  everlastingly  afraid  of  losing  his  job, 
that  he  submits  to  impositions  that  would  cause  a 
revolt  in  a  Chinese  laundry,  contenting  himself  with 
damning  the  company  in  a  low  voice  from  behind  the 
coal-pile,  or  in  the  seclusion  of  his  home,  while  a  nod 
of  recognition  from  the  division  superintendent,  or 
the  mention  of  his  first  name  by  the  master  me 
chanic,  sets  his  heart  to  fluttering  with  ardent  self- 
congratulations. 

On  the  way  to  the  hall,  several  old  gray-headed, 
chin-whiskered  fellows,  veteran  employees,  sur 
rounded  me,  and  asked  me  what  /  was  "goin*  to 
dew?"  They  advised  me  to  be  "mighty  careful," 
or  the  first  thing  I  knew  I  would  be  out  of  a  job  ; 
they  guessed  that  I  would  find  before  I  was  through 
with  it,  that  the  road  belonged  to  the  company,  and 
that  they  would  run  it  to  suit  themselves,  for  all  of 
me  and  my  crowd. 

"  All  right,"  said  I ;  "  I  have  no  objection  to  their 


2IO  THE  GENERAL  MANAGER'S  STORY 

running  the  road  to  suit  themselves,  but  I'll  be 
hanged  if  I'm  a  slave,  and  when  it  comes  to  a  ques 
tion  affecting  my  wages,  I  propose  to  be  heard." 

This  sentiment  met  with  vociferous  approval  from 
the  younger  and  radical  element,  but  the  conserva 
tives  shook  their  heads,  and  wisely  predicted  that  I 
should  find  out  that  I  couldn't  dictate  to  a  railroad 
company. 

As  we  approached  the  hall  I  was  filled  with  anxi 
ety,  wondering  how  Frank  had  succeeded  with  the 
engineers  and  firemen.  There  were  fifteen  or  twenty 
of  them  standing  in  a  group  outside  the  door,  talking 
in  a  half-frightened  way,  as  if  they  considered  the 
idea  of  asserting  that  they  had  any  rights  in  the 
matter,  to  be  equivalent  to  high  treason. 

My  arrival  with  such  a  strong  body  of  reinforce 
ments  seemed,  however,  to  hearten  them,  and  when 
I  spoke  up  with  an  assumption  of  fearless  cheerful 
ness,  saying,  "Step  right  inside,  gentlemen,  the 
meeting  is  about  to  commence,"  they  obeyed  with 
alacrity. 

I  stepped  to  the  chair,  rapped  on  the  table  with 
my  knuckles,  asking  them  to  please  come  to  order, 
and  remove  their  hats.  I  then  stated  briefly  why 
the  meeting  had  been  called,  told  them  there  was  no 
necessity  for  any  man  committing  himself  any  farther 
than  he  saw  fit  to  do ;  but  added  that,  personally,  I 
was  in  favor  of  resisting  the  reduction  with  all  the 
power  at  our  command ;  for,  I  warned  them,  if  we 
submitted  to  this  initial  stab  at  our  inalienable  rights 


A  TEN  PER  CENT  CUT  211 

as  American  citizens  to  have  a  voice  in  the  adjust 
ment  of  our  rate  of  pay,  we  might  expect  it  to 
be  quickly  followed  by  further  encroachments.  I 
warmed  with  my  subject,  reminding  them  that  in 
defence  of  a  similar  cause,  our  forefathers  had  shed 
their  blood  and  laid  down  their  lives  at  Lexington 
and  Bunker  Hill. 

When  the  applause  following  this  patriotic  out 
burst  had  subsided,  I  moved  the  election  of  Mr. 
Frank  Manly  as  permanent  chairman.  The  motion 
was  seconded  by  a  dozen  at  once,  and,  seeing  Frank 
getting  on  his  feet  to  decline,  I  put  the  question, 
and  he  was  unanimously  elected  vivd  voce.  I  called 
on  the  oldest  engineer  and  conductor  present  by 
name  to  escort  Mr.  Manly  to  the  chair,  and  was 
pleased  to  observe  the  alacrity  with  which  they 
obeyed.  They  were  already  beginning  to  feel  that 
wholesome  esprit  de  corps,  without  which  no  move 
ment  can  succeed. 

As  I  resigned  the  chair  to  Frank,  he  said  in  an 
undertone,  "What  in  thunder  did  you  do  that  for? 
I  don't  know  how  to  preside  at  a  meeting." 

"Sh!  be  still,"  said  I.  "You  know  as  much 
about  it  as  any  of  us.  Accept  all  motions  that  are 
made,  let  them  debate  as  long  as  they  have  a  mind 
to,  and,  when  nobody  has  any  more  to  say,  put  it 
to  a  vote  and  announce  it  lost  or  carried,  whichever 
way  you  think  it  ought  to  go."  Frank  grinned 
dubiously,  and  I  left  him,  taking  a  seat  in  the 
audience. 


212  THE  GENERAL   MANAGER'S   STORY 

I  had  no  sooner  taken  my  seat  than  a  great  buzz 
ing  ensued,  —  every  man  talking  eagerly  to  his 
neighbor;  so,  seeing  there  was  no  prospect  of  ac 
complishing  anything  unless  somebody  made  a  mo 
tion,  I  rose  and  moved  that  we  proceed  to  organize 
by  electing  officers.  As  the  meeting  readily  assented 
to  this,  but  made  no  attempt  to  do  it,  I  found  it 
necessary  to  nominate  a  secretary  and  sergeant-at- 
arms,  explaining  what  their  duties  were.  We  soon 
became  organized  ;  the  sergeant-at-arms  was  directed 
to  keep  the  door  closed,  but  to  admit  all  employees 
of  the  road  and  no  others.  It  was  encouraging  to 
observe  that  the  door  was  kept  pretty  constantly 
on  the  swing,  admitting  men  ;  it  was  evident  that 
the  news  had  got  abroad  and  was  already  exciting 
interest.  In  order  to  get  the  business  started,  I 
now  moved  that  a  committee  be  elected,  —  consist 
ing  of  one  engineer,  one  fireman,  one  conductor,  a 
brakeman,  and  switchman,  —  to  call  on  the  general 
manager  and  protest  against  the  reduction.  This 
had  the  desired  effect,  —  it  started  debate  ;  but  the 
great  trouble  now  was  to  keep  them  in  order.  They 
all  wanted  to  talk  at  once ;  and  seeing  that  Frank 
was  perplexed  by  his  unfamiliar  duties,  I  went  to 
him  and  told  him  to  explain  that  they  must  address 
the  chair,  and  only  the  person  recognized  could 
speak,  and  that  he  must  not  be  interrupted  until 
through.  Frank  begged  me  to  take  the  chair,  say 
ing  that  he  didn't  understand  it  and  didn't  want  it ; 
but  I  told  him  that  he  was  the  duly  elected  chair- 


A  TEN  PER  CENT  CUT  213 

man  and  was  doing  all  right.  While  we  were  dis 
cussing  this  point,  an  old  freight  conductor  arose 
in  the  rear  of  the  hall  and  roared  out :  "  Mr.  Chair 
man  !  what's  that  man  doin'  up  there  with  you  ? 
Seems  ter  me  he's  takin'  a  good  deal  on  himself. 
I  guess  we're  all  jest  as  much  interested  as  he  is, 
ain't  we  ?  I  don't  want  no  one-man  business  here  ; 
let  him  come  down  out  o'  that!"  Although  the 
remarks  were  not  flattering,  I  was  glad  to  hear 
them,  for  it  showed  that  an  interest  was  being 
taken  in  the  proceedings. 

We  made  but  little  real  progress  that  night  be 
yond  organizing  and  exciting  debate.  The  motion 
to  elect  a  committee  did  not  reach  a  vote.  Shortly 
before  adjourning,  a  slight  ripple  of  excitement  was 
caused  by  the  round-house  foreman  and  yard-master 
seeking  admission.  The  sergeant-at-arms,  big  with 
the  importance  of  his  new  office,  slammed  the  door 
in  their  faces,  admonishing  them  to  get  out.  Frank 
asked  what  the  trouble  was,  and  Mike  replied  :  "  A 
couple  o'  spies,  your  honor,  tryin'  ter  git  in  here  an' 
find  out  what's  goin'  on."  While  he  was  making 
his  report  to  the  chair,  the  "  spies  "  were  pounding 
on  the  door.  I  made  a  motion  that,  as  they  were 
employees  and  subject  to  the  cut  as  well  as  our 
selves,  they  be  admitted  and  requested  to  join  us. 

A  hot  debate  ensued  for  a  few  minutes.  We 
didn't  want  any  petty  officers  spying  on  us  and 
reporting  our  acts  to  the  bosses,  they  said;  but  I 
reminded  them  that  as  we  intended  to  report  our  acts 


214  THE  GENERAL   MANAGER'S  STORY 

to  the  general  manager  ourselves,  they  could  not 
possibly  do  us  any  harm,  and  besides  if  we  refused  to 
admit  them,  they  would  go  away  in  anger  and  report 
that  we  were  evidently  doing  something  that  we  were 
afraid  to  have  known.  It  was  finally  agreed  that  a 
committee  of  three  should  interview  them  and  decide. 

I  was  appointed  on  the  committee. 

We  found  the  two  gentlemen  in  the  anteroom  in 
rather  bad  humor;  we  told  them  the  object  of  the 
meeting,  and  asked  if  they  were  in  sympathy  with 
the  movement.  They  said  that  they  didn't  relish  a 
reduction  of  pay  any  more  than  ourselves,  but  wanted 
to  know  how  we  were  going  to  help  it  ?  We  told 
them  that  that  was  a  matter  for  the  men  to  decide 
for  themselves,  and  that  we  had  not  got  as  far  as 
that  yet.  They  finally  accepted  our  invitation  to 
come  in  and  take  part  in  the  meeting,  under  the 
assurance  that  they  would  be  allowed  to  withdraw  if 
the  action  of  the  majority  failed  to  meet  with  their 
approval.  Shortly  after  this  the  meeting  adjourned 
until  the  next  evening. 

The  next  day  excitement  ran  high  on  the  road. 
The  news  quickly  spread  to  the  other  divisions,  that 
the  men  on  the  Chicago  division  were  organizing  to 
resist  the  reduction.  On  our  division  the  passenger 
crews,  both  of  engines  and  trains,  who  had  taken  but 
little  part  in  the  meeting,  began  to  ask  questions,  and 
offer  advice.  The  passenger  man,  conductor  or 
engineer,  having  passed  through  the  severe  prelimi 
nary  training  of  the  freight  service,  and  reached  the 


A  TEN  PER  CENT  CUT  21$ 

summit  of  his  calling,  is  always  a  conservative.  He 
has  arrived  at  the  railroad  man's  "easy  street,"  and 
he  knows  that  if  he  loses  that  passenger  train,  it  will 
be  years,  if  ever,  before  he  will  get  another.  He 
doesn't  want  to  lose  the  best  job  he  ever  had,  know 
ing  that  besides  the  uncertainty  of  getting  another 
job  of  any  kind,  there  is  the  positive  fact  that  he  will 
not  get  another  passenger  train  without  working  his 
way  drearily  through  the  freight  business,  and  one 
experience  on  freight  is  enough  to  satisfy  the  crav 
ings  of  any  man,  even  though  he  were  a  human  hog. 

They  are  not  so  very  much  to  be  blamed,  these 
passenger  men  ;  for  human  nature  is  weak,  and  we 
have  no  right  to  demand  that  every  man  shall  be  a 
self-sacrificing  martyr.  Even  with  a  twenty-five  per 
cent  reduction,  they  would  make  a  better  and  easier 
living  than  they  could  pounding  an  old  freight  train 
on  some  other  road. 

I  was  up  the  road  when  the  next  meeting  occurred, 
and  Frank  was  only  able  to  stay  long  enough  to 
initiate  his  successor  into  the  mysteries  of  control 
ling  the  turbulent  elements  of  which  the  meeting 
was  composed. 

The  entire  evening  was  used  up  in  futile  arguments, 
recriminations,  and  personalities,  and  finished  up 
with  a  fight  among  a  half-dozen  brakemen.  Several 
chairs  were  broken,  and  the  landlord  refused  to  allow 
us  to  enter  the  hall  again  until  he  was  paid  for  his 
furniture.  A  hasty  collection  satisfied  his  claim,  and 
once  more  we  renewed  our  deliberations.  Frank 


2l6  THE  GENERAL  MANAGER'S  STORY 

made  an  excellent  opening  speech,  in  which  he  de 
plored  the  lost  time,  and  assured  them  that  he  would 
keep  order  if  he  had  to  personally  eject  every  man 
from  the  hall.  His  speech  had  the  desired  effect, 
and  we  got  to  work  at  once.  I  started  in  to  nomi 
nate  members  for  the  committee,  and  was  both  sur 
prised  and  disgusted  at  the  unanimity  with  which  the 
honor  was  declined.  Axiom  :  The  average  railroad 
man  would  rather  not  serve  on  a  committee  for  fear 
he  will  lose  his  job. 

At  last  an  old  fellow  jumped  up  after  I  had  nomi 
nated  half  a  dozen  unwilling  candidates,  and  bawled 
out,  "  Sa-ay !  you've  nominated  about  everybody  in 
the  room  to  serve  on  this  committee,  an'  now  by 
gum  I  nominate  you."  There  was  a  roar  of  laughter 
at  this,  and  as  soon  as  it  subsided,  I  turned  to  the 
chairman,  and  said,  "I  accept."  This  brought  down 
the  house ;  when  the  cheering  was  over  I  nominated 
the  previous  speaker,  and  amid  more  noise  he  ac 
cepted.  After  this  we  had  but  little  trouble  in  com 
pleting  our  committee.  As  chairman  I  demanded  the 
most  explicit  instructions,  declining  on  behalf  of  my 
self  and  fellow-committeemen  to  assume  the  respon 
sibility  of  formulating  the  demands  to  be  made  on 
the  company. 

While  this  subject  was  under  debate  the  sergeant- 
at-arms  in  answer  to  an  alarm  at  the  outer  door,  re 
ported  to  the  chairman,  that  two  committees  from  the 
other  two  divisions  of  the  road  sought  admission. 
They  were  admitted  amid  great  enthusiasm,  and 


Sa-ay  !  you've  nominated  about  everybody.'  "  —  p.  216. 


A  TEN  PER  CENT  CUT  21? 

stated  that  they  wished  to  take  part  with  us  in  any 
proceedings  which  we  might  take,  looking  to  the 
righting  of  the  wrong  that  had  been  done  to  all 
hands. 

At  first  it  seemed  that  we  should  have  to  recon 
struct  our  grievance  committee  in  order  that  it  should 
contain  representatives  of  the  entire  road ;  but  as 
they  assured  us  that  the  men  whom  they  represented 
were  willing  to  go  to  any  length  to  defeat  the  obnox 
ious  arts  of  the  new  management,  it  was  finally 
agreed  that  they  should  have  a  voice,  and  a  vote 
equal  to  two-thirds  of  the  whole  on  the  instruction 
of  the  committee,  and  in  return,  they  would  delegate 
our  committee  to  represent  their  interests.  As  it 
was  getting  late,  and  the  matter  had  been  pretty 
thoroughly  discussed,  the  meeting  was  adjourned  for 
twenty-four  hours,  to  enable  the  crews  now  on  the 
road  to  have  their  say. 

The  next  evening  the  full  instructions  were 
adopted,  and  were  as  follows :  The  committee  were 
to  call  on  the  president  or  his  representative  at  the 
earliest  opportunity,  and  request  that  the  rates  of 
pay  existing  previous  to  the  issuing  of  the  ten  per 
cent  order  be  restored.  They  were  to  make  no 
threats ;  to  use  only  such  arguments  as  they  could 
think  of;  and  to  accept  no  compromise.  Having 
carried  out  these  instructions,  they  were  to  report 
back  to  the  meeting. 


CHAPTER   XIV 

IN  THE  PRESIDENT'S   OFFICE  —  CURSING  OUR  ENTHU 
SIASTIC     FOLLY THE    DREAD    OF    DISCHARGE A 

FOXY   OLD  DUCK  —  RETALIATIONS  —  OFFICERS  PAID 
IN    FULL  —  WE   STRIKE 

THE  next  day  at  eleven  o'clock,  we  sat  dressed  in 
our  best  clothes  in  the  anteroom  of  the  president's 
office,  waiting  for  an  answer  to  our  request  for  an 
audience.  I  have  not  the  slightest  doubt  that  every 
man  on  that  committee  fully  believed  that  he  had 
worked  his  last  day  on  the  road ;  I  know  I  did. 

Presently  the  door  of  the  spacious  private  office 
was  thrown  wide  open,  and  we  were  requested  to 
enter.  Hats  in  hands,  and  hearts  in  mouths,  we  filed 
in,  I,  by  virtue  of  my  office  as  chairman,  at  the  head. 
Standing  in  the  middle  of  the  room,  both  hands  in 
his  pockets,  his  feet  spread  wide  apart,  and  with  an 
extremely  fragrant  cigar  cocked  at  an  angle  of  forty- 
five  towards  his  left  eye,  was  a  tall,  gray,  spare  man, 
plainly  but  expensively  dressed,  who  regarded  us 
rather  superciliously  as  we  awkwardly  drew  up  before 
him.  This  was  the  president,  the  highest  railroad 
functionary  that  any  of  us  had  ever  seen.  We  firmly 
believed  his  power  to  be  greater  than  that  of  any 
Czar.  When  we  at  last  got  ourselves  shuffled  into 

218 


WE  STRIKE  219 

some  kind  of  order  before  him,  he  ran  his  eye  keenly 
along  our  rank,  and  said,  — 

"Well,  gentlemen,  I  understand  that  you  are  a 
committee,  representing  the  employees  of  my  road. 
Which  is  your  chairman  ? " 

I  told  him  that  I  was  the  chairman. 

"  Ah,  yes  !  what  is  your  name,  please  ? " 

I  told  him. 

"  And  your  occupation  ?  " 

"Engineer." 

"  Yes  ?  very  well ;  now  you  may  introduce  your  com 
mittee,  please,  giving  their  names  and  occupations." 

As  I  called  out  their  names,  I  could  see  each  indi 
vidual  committeeman  shrink  and  shrivel  under  the 
keen  critical  glance  of  the  magnate,  who  evidently 
regarded  us  as  imbeciles  or  freaks,  an  odd  lot  to  be 
studied  a  bit,  wheedled  into  subjection  if  possible, 
but  under  no  circumstances  to  be  allowed  to  inter 
fere  with  his  financial  policy. 

And  the  committee !  I  know  that  every  mother's 
son  of  them  was  cursing  the  enthusiastic  folly  that 
caused  him  to  accept  the  appointment. 

There  was  no  applauding  constituency  here  to 
keep  their  spirits  up;  only  that  grim  old  financier 
in  the  foreground,  who  could  discharge  us  all  as 
easily  as  he  could  take  the  next  puff  of  his  cigar. 

And  here  I  may  as  well  explain  to  the  general 
reader  why  it  is  that  railroad  men  have  such  a  great 
dread  of  discharge,  for  it  is  a  fact  that  they  fear  it 
more  than  they  do  death.  The  average  railroader 


220  THE  GENERAL  MANAGER'S   STORY 

has  started  at  the  business  as  a  boy,  consequently 
he  has  never  known  anything  but  railroading.  The 
first  lesson  he  learned  was,  that  the  general  manager, 
if  not  the  president,  started  in  just  where  he  is  now. 
The  next,  that  every  day  that  he  remains  in  the  com 
pany's  employ  he  is  one  day  nearer  to  a  better  job ; 
for  promotion  is  the  rule  on  all  railroads.  The  next, 
that  if  he  is  discharged,  he  becomes  almost  absolutely 
ineligible  for  employment  in  the  railroad  business ; 
as,  when  seeking  employment,  he  must  furnish  his 
pedigree;  and  even  if  he  is  employed  to  fill  an  urgent 
vacancy,  the  telegraph  immediately  asks  the  superin 
tendent  of  the  road  from  whence  he  came,  not  "  why 
was  this  man  discharged?"  but  "have  you  any  ob 
jection  to  our  employing  him?"  If  the  answer  is 
in  the  affirmative,  the  instant  that  his  services  can 
be  dispensed  with  he  is  notified  of  that  fact;  also, 
should  he  be  allowed  to  remain  in  the  new  situation, 
it  is  bound  to  be  a  lower  grade  in  the  service  than 
that  from  which  he  was  discharged,  and  as  promotion 
is  exceedingly  slow,  owing  to  the  very  fact  that  the 
men  hang  so  tenaciously  to  their  positions,  —  never 
under  any  circumstances  resigning,  he  has  to  look 
forward  to  the  cheerful  prospect  of  years  of  hard 
service  before  he  can  regain  a  position  equivalent 
to  that  from  which  he  was  discharged,  probably  for 
no  fault  of  his  own. 

Then,  again,  from  the  very  nature 'of  their  em 
ployment,  they  are  usually  compelled  to  live  isolated 
from  the  general  community ;  near  the  round-houses, 


WE  STRIKE  221 

shops,  and  yards  where  they  are  employed.  Being 
steady,  hard-working  men,  with  tolerably  regular  in 
comes,  and  the  hope  of  permanent  employment  and 
promotion,  they  are  induced  to  mortgage  their  sala 
ries  for  years  in  advance  to  build  homes  for  them 
selves  and  families ;  and,  on  account  of  their  hazardous 
calling,  they  usually  carry  all  the  life  and  accident  in 
surance  that  they  are  able  to,  at  enormously  heavy 
rates.  Consequently,  discharge,  which  usually  upsets 
all  these  plans  for  the  future  welfare  of  those  depend 
ent  on  him,  generally  finds  the  railroad  man  with 
only  such  ready  money  as  is  left  from  his  last  month's 
pay,  after  deducting  the  amounts  due  on  his  home 
and  policy,  and  with  the  prospect  before  him  of  hav 
ing  to  go  hundreds  and  even  thousands  of  miles  to 
get  another  job.  The  home,  on  which  he  has  been 
paying  every  cent  that  he  could  spare  for  years, 
must  be  sacrificed  to  the  sharks,  who  are  always  on 
the  lookout  for  just  such  bargains ;  while  he,  fortu 
nate  if  after  months  of  search  he  obtains  employ 
ment  in  an  inferior  position,  and  at  reduced  pay,  has 
to  work,  and  save,  and  scrimp  for  months,  in  order 
to  forward  enough  money  to  the  family  to  keep  them 
alive,  and  at  the  same  time  provide  a  new  home  for 
them,  together  with  transportation  for  them  and  their 
household  goods. 

Reduced  again  to  poverty,  with  a  family  on  his 
hands,  is  it  any  wonder  that  he  dreads  discharge 
more  than  he  does  death  ?  That,  at  least,  is  oblivion. 

The  brief  ceremony  of  introduction  over,  he  asked, 


222  THE  GENERAL  MANAGER'S  STORY 

with  a  cynical  smile,  "  Well,  gentlemen,  what  can  I 
do  for  you  ? "  I  told  him  our  errand,  and  he  asked 
if  we  thought  we  were  more  competent  to  manage 
the  property  than  he  was.  Remembering  that  he 
was  the  president,  I  lyingly  told  him  no.  I  told  him 
that  we  didn't  expect  or  wish  to  manage  the  prop 
erty,  but  that  we  were  working  harder  than  we  had 
ever  done  before,  and  getting  less  pay,  which  we 
didn't  consider  just. 

He  said  that  circumstances,  which  we  would  not 
be  able  to  understand,  had  reduced  the  earning 
capacity  of  the  road  so  that  it  was  unable  to  pay 
the  interest  on  its  bonds,  and  pay  the  wages  we  had 
heretofore  received.  He  said  that  if  the  investors 
didn't  get  satisfactory  returns  for  their  money  they 
would  have  the  road  put  in  the  hands  of  a  receiver ; 
and  then  we  should  be  paid  in  scrip,  which  we  should 
have  to  sell  for  what  anybody  chose  to  give  for  it. 
Did  we  think  we  should  be  any  better  off  then? 

I  said,  "We  don't  think  —  "  "Hold  on,  young 
man,"  said  he,  "you're  doing  altogether  too  much 
of  the  talking.  I  want  to  hear  from  some  of  the 
others.  Then  pointing  to  the  old  conductor,  who  had 
nominated  me  on  the  committee,  he  said,  "You're 
an  old  railroad  man,  and,  I  presume,  a  man  of  family ; 
which  would  you  prefer  to  do,  take  home  your  pay 
at  the  end  of  the  month  in  cash,  and,  by  sacrificing 
ten  per  cent  for  a  short  time,  help  to  put  the  road  on 
a  paying  basis,  or  receive  your  pay  in  scrip,  which 
you  would  have  to  sell  for  perhaps  twenty-five  per 


WE  STRIKE  223 

cent,  or  more,  less  than  its  face  value,  for  an  indefi 
nite  time  ? " 

"  I  can't  pay  my  bills  with  what  I'm  gittin'  now," 
said  the  old  fellow. 

The  president  bit  his  lip,  and  flushed  at  the  mis 
carriage  of  his  attempt-  to  flatter  the  old  man  into 
becoming  his  ally,  and  said  with  ill-suppressed  anger, 
"  I'm  afraid  the  exhorbitant  wages  that  you  men  have 
been  receiving  heretofore  have  induced  you  to  live 
extravagantly;  you  should  economize;  I  have  to. 
My  salary  has  been  reduced  in  the  same  proportion 
as  yours,  but  I  don't  go  to  the  board  of  directors  and 
complain ;  I  accept  the  situation,  and  am  willing  to 
accept  even  a  further  reduction,  if  necessary,  to 
enable  the  road  to  pull  through.  You  men  don't 
understand  the  situation." 

"Probably,"  said  Denny  King,  the  fireman,  "you 
get  more  now  than  all  of  us  put  together." 

"  Yes,  I  presume  I  do.  Presidents  are  usually  paid 
a  higher  salary  than  firemen.  But  come,  I  haven't 
time  to  stand  here  talking  all  day.  What  do  you 
men  want  ?  What  is  it  that  you  expect  me  to  do  ?  " 

"  We  were  sent  here,  sir,  by  all  the  men  engaged 
in  train  service,  to  ask  you  to  restore  our  pay,  and 
they  will  expect  an  answer  from  you.  What  are  we 
to  tell  them  ?  "  said  I. 

"  You  will  tell  them  that  I  cannot  possibly  do  so, 
at  this  time.  But  as  soon  as  the  earnings  of  the 
road  will  warrant  the  extra  expense,  I  will  consider 
the  matter." 


224  THE  GENERAL  MANAGER'S   STORY 

"  Then  you  won't  promise  that  we  shall  ever  get 
it?"  said  I. 

He  was  angry  again,  we  could  see  that;  but  he 
controlled  himself,  thought  a  moment,  and  then  said : 
"  You  may  tell  them  from  me  that  every  man,  from 
the  president  down,  has  been  included  in  this  reduc 
tion  of  salaries  ;  that  I  hope  it  will  be  only  a  temporary 
necessity,  and  that  when  the  time  comes  to  restore 
them,  the  restoration  shall  begin  with  the  lowest- 
salaried  employees,  and  I  will  be  the  last  to  benefit 
by  it.  I  can  say  no  more  now.  If  that  isn't  satisfac 
tory  to  you,  you'll  have  to  do  whatever  you  see  fit. 

Turning  his  back  to  us,  he  sat  down  and  began 
to  write.  Seeing  that  there  was  no  more  to  be  said, 
we  walked  out  without  so  much  as  saying  good-day. 
When  we  got  out  on  the  street,  all  hands  commenced 
to  volubly  denounce  the  president. 

"  Say,  did  you  ever  see  such  a  foxy  old  duck  ?  A 
lot  we  made  by  goin'  to  him.  He's  willing  to  sub 
mit  to  another  reduction,  if  necessary.  Of  course. 
Why  not  ?  It's  only  takin'  the  money  out  of  one 
pocket  to  put  it  in  the  other,  with  him.  He'll  '  con 
sider  it/  That  ain't  a  very  rash  promise  !  Blast 
him  !  Who  is  he,  anyway,  I  wonder  ? " 

"  Oh,  some  eastern  bank  president  that's  got  the 
dead  wood  on  the  road." 

"No,  he  ain't.  I  know  all  about  him.  He  was  a 
conductor  on  a  Boston  horse  car.  He  married  the 
president's  daughter,  and  his  father-in-law  made  him 
superintendent.  Then  it  wasn't  but  a  short  time 


WE  STRIKE  225 

till  he  owned  the  road,  bankrupted  the  old  man,  and 
got  a  divorce  from  his  wife.  Now  he's  probably 
bought  stock  enough  in  this  road  to  get  himself 
elected  president,  and  he's  playing  a  game  of  freeze- 
out.  Nothing  would  suit  him  better  than  to  have 
a  strike.  It  would  help  him  to  knock  the  stock  down, 
and  then  he'd  buy  it  in  cheap.  That's  what  he's 
up  to." 

"Well,  d — n  him,  anyway.      May  lightnin'  strike 
him,  is  the  best  wish  I  have  for  him." 

We  made  our  report  to  the  meeting  that  even 
ing,  and  a  furious  debate  followed.  Some  were  for 
striking  at  once;  others  thought  we  should  give  the 
president  every  chance  to  show  his  hand  before 
resorting  to  extreme  measures.  They  argued  that 
he  had  not  positively  refused  to  restore  our  pay ; 
that  we  had  no  right  to  brand  him  as  a  liar  with 
out  proof;  that  there  might  be  a  great  deal  more 
in  what  he  said  about  the  road  not  paying  ex 
penses  than  we  were  aware  of,  and  that  at  any 
rate  he  was  entitled  to  be  believed  until  proven 
unworthy.  Nobody,  they  said,  would  justify  us 
in  striking  on  such  grounds  as  we  now  had ;  and,  at 
any  rate,  we  could  always  do  that,  if  it  came  to 
the  worst.  There  was  no  necessity  to  be  in  such 
a  terrible  hurry  to  throw  up  our  jobs.  The  times 
were  hard,  and  half  a  loaf  was  better  than  no  bread ; 
besides,  if  some  of  the  members  of  the  committee 
were  right,  a  strike  was  just  what  he  wanted,  and 
we  should  be  fools  to  play  into  his  hand. 
Q 


226  THE  GENERAL  MANAGER'S   STORY 

A  vote  was  taken  on  the  sense  of  the  meeting, 
and  it  was  shown  that  nearly  three-fourths  of 
those  present  were  in  favor  of  giving  the  company 
ample  time  to  show  whether  they  intended  to  deal 
fairly  by  us  or  not.  It  was  also  recommended 
that  we  make  our  organization  permanent,  and 
hold  monthly  meetings  hereafter.  These  two  reso 
lutions  had  to  be  submitted  to  the  other  side  at 
their  meeting  the  following  evening ;  and  as  they 
indorsed  them,  the  trains  continued  to  roll  without 
interruption. 

This  flurry  having  passed  successfully,  the  timid, 
or,  if  you  choose,  "  conservative,"  element  now 
began  to  join  the  organization  with  the  avowed 
purpose  of  controlling  it,  and  preventing  any  more 
such  dangerous  propaganda  as  that  from  which 
we  had  so  narrowly  escaped. 

But  it  would  seem  that  the  president  was  indeed 
bent  on  having  trouble ;  for  now  there  commenced 
a  series  of  discharges  for  the  most  trivial  causes, 
and  the  victims  were  not  the  radicals,  either,  but 
they  were  almost  invariably  the  conservative  old 
fellows  who  had  been  for  years  in  the  employ  of 
the  company,  who  had  the  best  trains,  and  con 
sidered  themselves  fixtures.  They  were  the  kind 
who  wisely  told  us  that  we  mustn't  think  that  we 
could  dictate  to  a  railroad  company ;  and  as  they 
seemed  to  consider  themselves  particularly  charged 
with  maintaining  the  company's  dignity,  but  little 
sympathy  was  felt  for  them,  as  one  after  another 


WE  STRIKE  227 

their  heads  were  lopped  off,  and  we,  the  radicals, 
succeeded  to  their  jobs. 

The  oldest  engineer  on  the  road  set  up  his 
wedges.  One  of  them  stuck  on  the  trip  out  that 
night,  the  box  got  hot,  he  lost  ten  minutes  with  it, 
and  was  fired  when  he  returned.  The  allowance  of 
oil  was  reduced,  until  it  was  almost  impossible  to 
get  over  the  division.  At  the  same  time,  strict 
orders  were  issued  that  no  stores  must  be  drawn 
at  the  other  end.  A  passenger  engine  got  a  hot 
engine  truck-box.  The  engineer  had  no  waste  to 
pack  it  with.  He  used  all  the  oil  he  had  on  it,  lost 
time  at  every  water-plug  cooling  it,  and  finally, 
just  as  he  rolled  into  the  depot,  the  wheel  dropped 
off.  He  was  discharged.  An  old  conductor,  a 
deacon  in  the  church  of  which  the  president  was 
a  shining  light,  turned  in  twelve  cents  too  much 
at  the  end  of  his  run,  and  was  rewarded  with  a 
blue  envelope,  entitling  him  —  a  man  of  sixty  —  to 
look  for  a  job  braking  on  freight,  throwing  switches 
in  some  yard,  or  flagging  a  road  crossing,  at  thirty 
dollars  per  month,  if  he  could  get  it. 

Soon  the  "  conservatives  "  could  be  counted  on  the 
fingers  of  an  armless  man.  They  outradicalled  the 
radicals.  As  their  ardor  increased,  ours  cooled.  We 
asked  them  how  they  liked  it ;  we  reminded  them 
that  not  so  very  long  ago  they  were  stanch  sup 
porters  of  the  company,  when  we  needed  their  assist 
ance  ;  but  now  we  were  doing  very  well,  thank  you, 
the  good  jobs  were  coming  our  way,  and  we  were 


228  THE  GENERAL  MANAGER'S  STORY 

making  more  money  than  we  did  previous  to  the  cut, 
and  getting  jobs  that  we  had  never  expected  to  be 
able  to  touch  with  a  forty-foot  pole.  They  asked  us  if 
we  thought  it  was  right  to  take  the  trains  they  had 
hauled  for  so  many  years.  "  Certainly !  why  not  ? 
You  are  all  getting  discharged,  and  somebody's  got  to 
have  them,  and  they  come  to  us  by  right  of  seniority, 
the  same  as  they  did  to  you."  We  told  them  these 
things  merely  to  aggravate  them,  but  not  being  fos 
sils  we  knew  very  well  that  the  company  was  simply 
using  us  to  club  each  other  with,  and  that  our  turn 
would  come  just  as  surely  as  theirs  had. 

Matters  had  been  going  on  like  this  for  nearly  a 
year,  when  a  rumor  began  to  circulate  that  the  gen 
eral  officers  had  been  put  on  full  pay  again.  If  this 
was  true,  it  was  a  most  flagrant  case  of  deliberate 
lying  on  the  president's  part,  that  could  be  con 
ceived;  of  course  we  had  no  means  of  proving  it, 
but  inside  of  two  months  the  whole  story  was  given 
in  one  of  the  daily  papers  in  a  signed  article.  We 
called  a  special  meeting  to  consider  this  new  griev 
ance.  By  this  time  there  was  no  division  of  opinion. 
The  committee  were  unanimously  instructed  to  give 
the  president  three  hours  to  restore  the  wages  of 
every  man  on  the  road,  and  if  he  failed,  a  word  that 
had  been  agreed  upon  was  to  be  sent  by  telegraph  to 
every  conductor  and  engineer  on  the  road,  or  at  work 
in  the  yards.  A  switchman  was  named  in  each  yard 
to  receive  the  word,  and  he  was  to  post  it  on  the 
bulletin  board  in  the  yard-master's  office,  besides  giv- 


WE  STRIKE  229 

ing  it  verbally  to  all  the  men  whom  he  could  reach. 
The  receipt  of  the  word  "  Rain  "  constituted  a  notice 
for  every  man  to  stop  work  at  4  P.M.  on  the  following 
day,  no  matter  where  he  should  be.  All  engines  were 
to  cut  loose  from  their  trains,  draw  their  fires,  run  as 
far  from  the  train  as  possible,  blow  out  the  boiler, 
and  empty  the  tank,  filling  the  firebox  to  the  crown- 
sheet  with  green  coal.  The  crews  were  then  to 
leave  them,  and  make  their  way  home  as  best  they 
could.  Conductors  and  brakemen  of  passenger 
trains  were  to  stay  with  their  trains,  and  care  for 
their  passengers  as  long  as  any  remained  on  board, 
or  until  relieved.  Switchmen  were  to  securely 
spike  all  switches  in  their  charge  and-  go  home. 
No  striking  employee  would  be  allowed  to  trespass 
on  the  company's  property  during  the  continuance  of 
the  strike. 

It  was  acknowledged  on  the  part  of  the  men  that 
if  we  once  struck,  many  of  us  must  expect  to  lose 
our  positions  ;  but  matters  had  become  so  unbearable 
on  the  road  lately,  that  few  cared  what  the  result 
would  be.  A  petty  tyrannical  system  of  fines  and 
suspensions  had  been  inaugurated,  which,  together 
with  our  reduced  rate  of  pay,  kept  us  in  such  poverty 
that  we  began  to  fear  actual  starvation  ;  everybody 
had  got  as  deeply  in  debt  as  he  could,  and  the 
keepers  of  stores,  boarding-houses,  and  saloons,  who 
were  nearly  as  badly  off  as  ourselves,  sympathized 
with  us,  and  promised  to  help  all  they  could. 

The  same  committee  was  again  sent  to  interview 


230  THE  GENERAL  MANAGER'S  STORY 

the  president.  This  time  we  were  not  admitted  to 
the  inner  office ;  he  stepped  out  into  the  anteroom, 
and  asked  us  our  business.  I  reminded  him  of  his 
promise :  that  when  wages  were  restored,  he  would 
begin  at  the  lowest-salaried  man,  and  remain  until 
the  last  himself.  "Well,  what  of  it?"  said  he.  I 
handed  him  the  paper,  and  asked  if  the  article  to 
which  I  pointed  was  true.  He  glanced  over  it  rap 
idly,  his  face  flushed  to  the  roots  of  his  hair ;  and 
slapping  the  paper  viciously  with  the  back  of  his 
left  hand,  he  said,  with  his  teeth  clenched  and  the 
words  hissing  through  them  like  steam  through  a 
leaky  stuffing-box,  "This  is  the  most  outrageous 
insult  to  which  I  was  ever  subjected.  What  do  you 
mean  by  coming  here  with  this  filthy  rag  ?  Do  you 
realize  that  you  are  accusing  me  of  wilful,  deliberate 
lying?" 

I  told  him  that  we  had  made  no  accusation ;  but, 
seeing  the  statement  with  the  author's  name  at 
tached,  we  had  concluded  that  there  must  be  some 
thing  in  it,  or  if  not,  that  he  would  thank  us  for 
having  called  his  attention  to  it  so  that  he  might 
punish  the  slanderer ;  and  anyhow,  we  had  been  sent 
to  him  to  ask  for  a  restoration  of  our  pay. 

He  glared  at  me  like  a  wild  beast ;  I  thought  he 
would  jump  at  my  throat,  but  controlling  himself 
with  an  effort,  he  said,  "  I  told  you  men  when  you 
were  here  before,  that  when  the  financial  condition 
of  the  road  warranted  the  restoration  of  the  former 
rate  of  pay,  I  would  consider  the  matter.  When  that 


WE  STRIKE  231 

time  comes,  and  I  have  considered  it,  you  will  be 
informed  of  my  decision." 

The  brakeman  on  the  committee  chipped  in  here, 
and  asked  him  if  the  report  in  the  paper,  that  the 
general  officers,  including  himself,  had  had  their  pay 
restored,  was  true  or  not  ? 

"  I  don't  think  you  know  to  whom  you  are  talking. 
I  will  not  be  catechised.  When  I  have  any  communi 
cation  to  make  to  the  employees,  it  will  be  made  in 
the  usual  manner,  by  means  of  an  order." 

He  was  about  to  return  to  his  sanctum,  and  seeing 
that  there  was  absolutely  no  hope  of  getting  any 
thing  out  of  him  I  said,  "  One  moment,  sir,  if  you 
please ;  we  are  not  through  yet.  Our  orders  are  to 
notify  you  that  unless  an  order  restoring  our  pay 
appears  within  three  hours,  we  will  resign  in  a  body." 

"Who  are  we f" 

"  Every  employee  in  the  train  service  of  this  rail 
road." 

"Very  well.  I  can't  help  it ;  and  as  for  this  com 
mittee,  you  can  consider  yourselves  discharged  now, 
and  I  shall  issue  orders  at  once  to  have  any  of  you 
who  may  be  found  trespassing  on  the  company's  prop 
erty  arrested,  and  lodged  in  prison." 

"  The  h — 11  you  will,  you  bean-eatin',  psalm-singin', 
son  of  a  down-east  Jew,"  said  old  Merrill,  the  con 
ductor.  The  door  slammed,  and  he  was  gone ;  at  the 
same  time  a  policeman  appeared  from  somewhere, 
and  ordered  us  out  of  the  building.  We  went,  mak 
ing  a  great  deal  of  unnecessary  noise,  for  we  were 


232      THE  GENERAL  MANAGER'S  STORY 

mad  clear  through,  and  being  discharged,  neither 
owed  nor  showed  allegiance  or  respect  to  our  late 
president  or  the  property  under  his  control. 

For  the  next  half  or  three-quarters  of  an  hour  we 
kept  a  telegraph  operator  busy  sending  the  word 
"  Rain  "  to  innumerable  addresses  all  along  the  line. 
There  was  no  occasion  to  report.  All  hands  would 
know  the  result  of  our  interview  before  sundown,  and 
as  we  were  certainly  out  of  it,  we  had  no  more  inter 
est  in  the  fight  now  than  any  other  spectators. 

The  next  day  at  four  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  every 
wheel  stopped,  and  every  locomotive  fire  was  dumped 
on  more  than  seven  hundred  miles  of  railroad,  includ 
ing  branches  and  leased  lines.  The  men  were  a  unit, 
and  the  paralysis  was  perfect. 

That  night  the  road  was  dead.  The  next  morning 
the  papers  blazed  with  accounts  of  the  strike  and 
advertisements  for  help.  Engineers,  firemen,  railroad 
men  of  any  kind,  laborers  who  never  saw  a  railroad, 
anybody  that  could  work,  could  find  permanent  em 
ployment  and  good  wages  at  the  office  of  the  super 
intendent  of  the  railroad. 

The  clerks  in  the  offices  were  hustled  out  into  the 
yard,  and  made  to  sweat  and  lacerate  their  delicate 
hands,  tear  and  soil  their  cloths,  and  injure  their 
tender  feelings,  by  pulling  spikes  from  switches, 
clawing  the  green  coal  out  of  the  fireboxes,  dragging 
heavy  and  "  narsty  "  hoses  to  the  engines,  and  form 
ing  bucket  and  cordwood  brigades,  while  we  sat  on 
the  fences  and  cheered  them  on  to  their  unaccus- 


The  clerks  in  the  offices  were  hustled  out  into  the 
yard."— p.  232. 


WE  STRIKE  233 

tomed  and  unwelcomed  toil  by  such  remarks  as  never 
fail  to  present  themselves  to  the  mind  under  such 
circumstances.  The  new  employees,  as  fast  as  hired, 
were  sent  to  help.  Their  appearance  and  awkward 
manner  of  going  about  the  work  offered  fresh  subjects 
for  our  witticisms.  Their  patience  must  have  been 
sorely  tried.  From  jeering  it  was  but  a  short  step 
to  throwing  various  missiles.  The  clerks  dodged  in 
fear  and  trembling,  but  the  laborers  talked  back,  and 
gave  threat  for  threat,  sarcasm  for  sarcasm. 

At  length  a  half  a  brick  struck  a  burly  Irishman 
in  the  small  of  the  back  as  he  was  straining  at  the 
clawbar  to  draw  a  spike.  He  straightened  up  a  mo 
ment,  rubbed  his  sore  back,  and  then  with  a  yell  of 
rage,  he  started  for  a  grinning  crowd  with  the  heavy 
clawbar.  It  was  the  one  spark  necessary  to  kindle 
a  furious  conflagration.  I  have  said  that  the  whole 
population  of  the  locality  sympathized  with  us. 
They  were  out  in  force,  and  when  the  interloper 
resented  what  was  considered  to  be  his  just  deserts, 
he  found  that  he  had  stirred  up  a  hornet's  nest. 
The  crowd  having  once  broken  loose,  charged 
through  the  yard,  driving  everything  before  them. 
Before  the  police  arrived  a  dozen  fires  were  started 
in  as  many  different  places  ;  and  owing  to  the  im 
possibility  of  getting  the  fire  engines  through  the 
yard,  over  fifteen  hundred  cars,  many  of  them  loaded 
with  valuable  merchandise,  were  burned  to  the 
ground  before  the  flames  could  be  extinguished,  and 
seven  locomotives,  their  tanks  and  boilers  empty, 


234  THE  GENERAL   MANAGER'S  STORY 

were  completely  ruined.  The  night  shut  down  on  a 
dreary  scene  of  smoking  desolation,  where  but  the 
day  before  the  air  had  rung  with  the  cheerful 
sounds  of  busy  commerce.  The  sheriff  telegraphed 
to  the  governor  for  troops,  saying  that  he  was  unable 
to  control  the  mob.  The  next  morning  militiamen 
were  patrolling  the  yard,  and  the  work  proceeded 
with  no  further  interruptions  than  an  occasional  jeer 
ing  by  the  onlookers  at  the  awkward  attempts  of  the 
new  men,  to  get  the  few  remaining  dead  engines 
watered  and  fired-up. 

In  the  meantime  there  was  the  very  old  Harry  to 

pay  up  the  road.     At  W ,  where  I  once  had  such 

a  time  weighing  coal  cars,  three  locomotives  had 
been  run  into  the  turn-table  pit.  A  rock  cut,  about 
a  mile  west  of  the  station,  had  been  choked  by  tum 
bling  its  natural  walls  into  itself.  This  was  accom 
plished  by  dropping  cartridges  into  the  seams  and 
cracks  along  the  top  on  both  sides,  and  exploding 
them ;  the  natural  consequence  being  that  huge 
blocks  were  split  off,  and  tumbled  into  the  cut.  The 
idea  was  to  close  the  road,  and  prevent  the  passage 
of  trains,  but  after  the  job  was  done,  it  occurred  to 
the  perpetrators  that  there  was  a  branch  that  would 
enable  them  to  run  around  the  obstruction ;  so  a  hand 
car  was  loaded  with  rendrock,  and  four  men  took  it 
to  an  iron  bridge  five  miles  farther  east,  and  before 
the  second  morning  of  the  strike  dawned,  the  bridge 
lay  in  the  creek,  and  the  road  was  most  effectually 


o 

i 

TJ 

bo 


x: 
txo 


WE  STRIKE  235 

I  heartily  disapproved  of  this  violence  and  destruc 
tion;  not  from  any  quixotic  sentiment  on  the  com 
pany's  account,  but  because  I  knew  it  could  do 
nothing  but  harm  to  the  interests  of  the  men.  Al 
though  I  was  discharged,  and  could  never  expect 
to  work  on  the  road  again,  there  were  many  elderly 
married  men  that  I  hoped  would  be  reinstated  after 
the  trouble  was  over ;  but  if  the  rioters  continued  to 
destroy  property,  it  was  sure  to  be  blamed  on  the 
employees,  whether  rightly  or  not,  and  would  make 
it  next  to  impossible  for  any  of  them  to  be  taken 
back. 

I  went  among  them  and  advised  them  to  remem 
ber  the  order  issued  by  the  organization,  that  all 
employees  should  refrain  from  trespassing  on  the 
company's  property.  I  was  assured  by  all  the  men 
I  saw  that  they  had  obeyed  the  order  strictly,  and  I 
believe  that  as  a  rule  they  had,  but  I  will  not  go  to 
the  extent  of  claiming  that  none  of  them  took  any 
part  in  the  rioting,  for  railroad  men  are  far  from 
angelic,  and  many  of  them  had  cause  to  hate  every 
rail  and  spike  in  the  road. 


CHAPTER   XV 

THE  PRESIDENT  SWEARS  OUT  WARRANTS  —  WE  GO 
EAST  —  STRAPPED  IN  BUFFALO  —  DRUNK  AND  DIS 
ORDERLY —  WE  HOOF  IT  —  LEVYING  ON  THE  FARM 
ERS A  MOVABLE  FEAST 

IT  took  them  three  days  to  get  the  trains  in. 
Then,  with  such  men  as  they  could  pick  up,  they 
began  to  operate  the  road — after  a  fashion.  The 
president,  having  now  presumably  recovered  from 
the  first  shock  of  the  strike,  swore  out  warrants  for 
the  arrest  of  all  the  members  of  the  committee. 
Not  caring  to  gratify  the  gentleman's  animosity  by 
serving  the  state  at  his  request,  I  left  town  between 
two  days,  in  company  with  my  chum,  Frank  Manly. 
We  both  had  a  few  hundred  dollars  ;  and  as  we  knew 
that  the  vicinity  of  Chicago  would  be  anything  but 
a  sanitarium  for  us  for  a  long  time  to  come,  we 
decided  to  go  east,  and  see  what  manner  of  country 
it  was  that  had  produced  our  president. 

We  had  both  been  working  steadily  for  years,  so 
that  our  enforced  holiday  was  not  entirely  unwel 
come,  and  when  we  got  as  far  as  Buffalo,  feeling  that 
we  were  now  safe  from  our  enemy,  we  determined 
to  celebrate  a  bit,  as  young  fellows  sometimes  will. 
Either  we  were  unfortunate  in  our  choice  of  entertain- 

236 


JOYS  OF  TRAMPING  237 

ment,  or  else  we  bore  the  indelible  mark  of  strangers 
about  us ;  for  the  result  of  our  first  night's  amuse 
ment  was  that  we  were  robbed  of  every  cent,  and  in 
the  fight  that  ensued  between  us  and  the  robbers, 
we  were  arrested  while  they  escaped.  As  we  had 
been  pretty  roughly  handled,  our  faces  cut  and 
bruised,  and  our  clothing  torn  to  rags,  we  made  a 
pretty  tough  looking  pair,  when  we  were  brought 
before  the  police  magistrate  next  morning. 

"What's  the  charge,  officer?" 

"  Drunk  and  disorderly ;  they  were  creating  a  dis 
turbance  in  Canal  Street,  fighting,  your  honor." 

"Which  way?"     (To  us.) 

"  Sir  ?  "  said  Frank. 

"Which  way  are  you  two  tramps  going?  east,  or 
west." 

"We're  not  tramps,  sir,  we're  —  " 

"Which  way  are  you  going ?     Come,  out  with  it." 

"We  were  on  our  way  east,  sir,  to  —  " 

"Well,  continue  on  your  way  east.  I'll  give  you 
thirty  minutes  to  get  out  of  town,  and  if  you  come 
before  me  again,  I'll  give  you  thirty  days  in  the 
workhouse.  Next ! " 

The  policeman  gave  us  a  shove  out  of  the  door 
with  a  "  G'wan  now  —  clear  out ! " 

Doggedly  and  shamefaced,  we  sauntered  along, 
beginning  to  feel  already  the  character  that  we 
looked.  Presently  Frank  burst  into  a  hearty  laugh. 
I  asked  him  what  in  thunder  he  found  so  awfully 
amusing?  "Why,"  said  he,  "we  came  east  to  see 


238  THE  GENERAL  MANAGER'S   STORY 

the  country ;  didn't  we  ?  What  better  chance  could 
we  have  to  see  it,  than  by  tramping  over  it  ?  The 
weather's  fine;  it's  'the  glorious  month  of  June,' 
we're  in  no  hurry ;  why  not  take  the  magistrate  at 
his  word,  and  tramp  east  ?  I've  often  thought  when 
I've  been  sweltering  along  on  the  old  96,  and  seen 
the  tramps  lying  around  under  the  trees  smoking 
their  pipes,  and  enjoying  life,  that  the  difference 
between  my  style  of  living  and  theirs  —  in  the  sum 
mertime,  anyway  —  was  mighty  dearly  paid  for,  by 
working  three  hundred  and  sixty-five  days  a  year,  for 
a  soulless  corporation.  Somehow,  it  has  always 
seemed  to  me  that  sometime  I'd  have  a  hack  at  it, 
and  I  don't  suppose  I'll  ever  have  such  a  chance 
again.  Nobody  knows  us  here,  so  we  needn't  have 
any  false  modesty,  and  besides,  it's  a  case  of  have  to 
anyway.  We've  been  ordered  to  turn  tramp  by  a 
duly  constituted  authority,  with  a  suitable  penalty 
attached  if  we  fail  to  obey;  we  haven't  a  red  cent 
between  us,  so  I  don't  see  that  there's  any  other  way 
out  of  it.  Come  on !  don't  be  so  glum.  There  are 
thousands  of  tramps,  and  we  look  the  part;  so  let's 
make  the  best  of  it,  and  get  whatever  fun  out  of  it 
we  can,  —  what  do  you  say  ? " 

I  suppose  the  natural  depravity  that  lies  so  near 
the  surface  in  everybody's  nature,  responded  to  the 
appeal ;  for  my  spirits  rose  at  once,  and  I  said,  "  All 
right !  I'm  with  you ;  but  I'll  tell  you  one  thing,  I 
won't  beg.  You'll  have  to  do  all  that  part  of  it." 

"Who  said   anything   about  begging?      Do  you 


JOYS   OF  TRAMPING  239 

remember  that  lead-pencil  peddler  that  stopped  at 
the  boarding-house  for  a  week  last  fall  ?  He  was 
an  almighty  wide-awake  fellow.  I  got  quite  well 
acquainted  with  him,  and  he  told  me  all  about  him 
self.  I  didn't  believe  all  he  said,  but  I'm  satisfied 
that  most  of  it  was  true.  He  said  the  man  didn't  live 
that  he'd  work  for,  no  matter  how  good  the  job  was, 
or  the  pay  either.  He  said  he  had  always  made  a 
good  living,  and  been  his  own  boss ;  and  he  told  me 
how  he  and  another  fellow  put  in  a  whole  summer, 
tramping  from  New  York  to  Cleveland,  Ohio.  They 
never  begged,  and  therefore  they  were  never  re 
fused.  Never  you  mind  how  it  was  done;  I  know, 
and  that's  enough." 

We  had  taken  to  the  New  York  Central  Railroad, 
and  were  well  out  into  the  country,  when  it  became 
dark,  and  in  spite  of  my  determination  to  enjoy  the 
experience,  a  lonesome,  half-scared  feeling  would 
come  over  me  when  I  remembered  that  I  had  no 
money,  and  didn't  know  where  I  was  going  to  sleep 
that  night. 

After  walking  —  as  it  seemed  to  me  —  hours  and 
hours,  until  my  feet  and  legs  ached  so  that  it  seemed 
as  if  I  should  drop,  we  sat  down  on  the  bank,  to  rest. 
As  we  had  eaten  nothing  for  more  than  twenty-four 
hours,  I  suggested  that  the  sound  of  the  dinner  bell 
would  be  more  than  welcome.  To  this  hint  Frank 
replied,  "  Knights  of  the  road,  of  our  degree,  that  is, 
those  who  are  too  proud  to  beg,  and  too  lazy  to  work, 
must  do  the  other  thing ;  that's  why  we  travel  so 


240  THE  GENERAL  MANAGER'S   STORY 

late.  If  I'm  not  mistaken,  there's  a  farmhouse  just 
round  the  curve,  and  as  every  man's  hand  is  against 
us,  I  propose  that  our  hand  be  against  every  man. 
The  first  thing  to  do  is  to  provide  ourselves  with 
good  serviceable  cudgels,  because  the  fool  dogs  that 
these  farmers  keep  seldom  know  enough  to  mind 
their  own  business." 

After  we  got  our  clubs  cut  and  trimmed  to  suit, 
we  reconnoitred  the  farmer's  barn.  It  was  the  first 
time  that  I  had  ever  been  engaged  in  such  a  bur 
glarious  proceeding,  and  I  was  terribly  frightened. 

To  go  marauding  about  strange  premises  in  the 
dark,  not  knowing  what  you  will  find  on  turning  a 
corner  or  opening  a  door,  but  realizing  that  the 
owner  would  be  perfectly  justified  in  shooting  you  on 
sight,  is  not  pleasant  to  a  novice ;  but  the  faintness 
of  incipient  starvation  made  me,  if  not  brave,  at  least 
desperate.  We  were  in  search  of  the  hen-roost  —  a 
noble  occupation  for  .my  father's  son.  Frank,  as  the 
leader  of  the  forlorn  hope,  went  ahead ;  while  I 
brought  up  the  rear,  to  look  out  for  dogs  and 
farmers.  Fortunately  for  us  there  didn't  seem  to  be 
any  dogs,  and  the  barn  was  so  far  from  the  house 
that  our  noiseless  proceeding  failed  to  disturb  the 
peaceful  slumbers  of  the  honest  man,  who,  tired 
from  his  day's  work,  was  no  doubt  snoring  lustily  in 
peace,  while  we  two  scallywag  tramps  robbed  him  of 
the  fruit  of  his  honest  toil. 

Once  Frank  pulled  open  a  door  or  shutter  which 
was  unexpectedly  hinged  at  the  bottom,  and,  before 


JOYS   OF  TRAMPING  241 

he  could  catch  it,  it  dropped  with  a  reverberating 
bang  and  rattle  against  the  side  of  the  building, 
making  noise  enough  to  alarm  a  county.  Breath 
lessly  and  in  hot  haste  we  retreated  to  the  railroad, 
and  I  was  for  abandoning  the  job  altogether;  but 
Frank  strolled  carelessly  toward  the  house,  and,  hav 
ing  satisfied  himself  that  no  one  was  stirring,  we 
resumed  our  operations.  Frank  assured  me  that, 
on  the  falling  of  the  door  he  heard  from  within  the 
building  a  startled  clucking  and  rustling  which  told 
him  that  "Eureka"  was  the  word. 

He  climbed  through  the  hole,  —  no  money  could 
have  tempted  me  to  do  that,  —  and  presently  I 
heard  a  whispered  "  Here ! "  and  a  Plymouth  Rock 
hen  with  her  head  under  her  wing  was  passed  out 
to  me.  I  waited,  expecting  him  to  come  out.  It 
seemed  an  hour  when  I  again  saw  a  spot  of  extra 
blackness  in  the  dark  square  and  received  a  rooster. 
Frank  soon  followed,  and,  giving  him  the  rooster, 
we  got  away  from  there  at  once.  He  had  been  all 
over  the  place,  he  told  me,  in  search  of  eggs ;  but 
though  he  found  none,  he  did  find  a  lump  of  rock 
salt  in  a  manger.  It  had  probably  been  nosed  over 
and  licked  by  the  horse  for  weeks,  but  that  wouldn't 
hurt  it  any  inside,  would  it  ? 

We  walked  a  good  five  miles  before  we  dared  to 
cook  our  game.  In  the  meantime,  we  had  wrung 
their  necks,  borrowed  a  ten-quart  milking-pail  that 
we  saw  inverted  on  top  of  a  fence  stake,  and  filled 
it  with  new  potatoes  and  green  onions.  Coming  to 


242  THE  GENERAL  MANAGER'S   STORY 

a  bridge  over  a  stream,  we  decided  that  no  better 
place  for  breakfast  could  be  found.  There  was  an 
old  wreck  of  a  building  close  by  which  supplied 
us  with  ample  fuel.  We  disembowelled  our  fowls, 
skinned  them,  and,  without  wasting  even  the  heads, 
soon  had  them  boiling  merrily  under  the  bridge,  in 
company  with  the  potatoes,  onions,  and  a  generous 
lump  of  salt.  The  light  of  our  fire  must  have  shone 
up  through  the  ties  and  rails  of  the  bridge,  for 
several  freight  trains  called  for  brakes,  thinking, 
no  doubt,  that  the  bridge  was  on  fire;  and  on  dis 
covering  their  mistake,  they  would  pull  out  again, 
and  go  clanking  and  pounding  over  our  heads,  curs 
ing  us  for  the  annoyance  we  had  caused  them.  One 
fellow  threw  a  shovelful  of  soft  coal  down  upon  us, 
a  quart  of  which  (estimated)  went  to  the  seasoning 
of  our  stew.  But,  as  Frank  remarked,  while  we 
could  have  got  along  without  the  additional  ingre 
dient,  still  he  had  heard  it  said  that  it  was  very 
nutritious,  and  as  we  had  both,  no  doubt,  swallowed 
many  pounds  of  it  during  our  railroad  experience, 
we  needn't  mind  a  trifle  more  now ;  we  could  let 
the  dish  stand  a  bit,  and  the  heaviest  particles 
would  sink.  However,  we  always  carried  the  pail 
to  a  sheltered  place  after  that  whenever  a  train  was 
passing. 

The  odors  that  arose  from  that  boiling  pot  will 
remain  in  my  memory  while  life  lasts,  as  the  most 
delicious  that  I  ever  smelled.  It  was  tantalizing  to 
fish  up  a  piece  of  meat  with  a  pointed  stick  and 


JOYS  OF  TRAMPING  243 

find  it  tough  yet,  —  beyond  all  hopes  of  mastication. 
It  was  getting  daylight.  Frank  had  remained  for 
a  bit  seated  on  a  stone  behind  me,  watching  the 
"killies"  swimming  in  the  shallow  water,  while  I 
stirred  the  pot.  I  had  just  made  an  ineffectual 
attempt  to  bite  the  rooster's  neck,  when,  feeling 
Frank  standing  at  my  back  looking  into  the  pot, 
I  said,  "  I  wonder  how  some  of  those  killies  would 
go  in  this  mess  ? "  "  Oh,  I  don't  know  anything 
about  that"  said  a  strange  voice,  and,  looking  up, 
I  found  a  robust,  full-bearded  young  farmer  watch 
ing  me.  I  threw  a  hurried  glance  around  for  Frank ; 
he  was  nowhere  in  sight.  I  wondered  if  he  had 
been  quietly  nabbed  and  I  was  to  be  next.  "  Fine 
mornin',"  said  I,  with  all  the  composure  —  or  ef 
frontery,  if  you  like  —  at  my  command.  "Yes," 
said  he;  "the  mornin's  all  right."  But  he  never 
took  his  eyes  off  the  pot,  where,  as  I  continued  to 
stir,  the  hen's  and  rooster's  heads  circled  round  and 
round  after  each  other  in  a  merry  race,  encouraged 
and  accompanied  by  crowds  of  enthusiastic  partisans, 
in  the  shape  of  potatoes  and  onions,  —  the  regatta 
taking  place  in  a  miniature  reproduction  of  the 
Black  Sea,  due  to  the  unsolicited  contribution  of 
soft  coal.  The  situation  was  embarrassing.  I  felt 
the  young  stranger's  presence  to  be  de  trap,  his 
visit  untimely,  and  wondered  at  his  ill  manners. 
Couldn't  he  see  that  we  had  not  yet  breakfasted  ? 

While  I  was  in  this  predicament,  not  wishing  to 
be  inhospitable,  and  yet  —  Frank  appeared  upon  the 


244      THE  GENERAL  MANAGER'S  STORY 

scene  with  his  club.  I  never  could  have  believed 
that  my  chum,  Frank  Manly,  the  dashing  young 
engineer,  the  adored  of  the  girls,  the  central  figure 
at  all  balls  and  picnics,  the  young  man  of  whom  I 
had  often  heard  it  said  that  even  when  he  was  firing, 
he  could  get  off  his  engine  at  the  end  of  a  hundred 
and  fifty  mile  run,  looking  as  if  he  had  just  come 
from  the  hotel,  —  could  ever  look  like  this.  His 
three  days'  growth  of  heavy  red  beard,  the  yellow  and 
green  tints  of  a  rapidly  disappearing  black  eye,  a 
shiny  crimson  band  across  his  nose  and  cheek  bones, 
where  he  had  been  unaccountably  sunburned  the  day 
before,  together  with  his  generally  ragged  and  dirty 
appearance,  had  transformed  him  into  as  tough  a 
looking  specimen  of  the  genus  tramp  as  was  ever 
seen,  even  on  the  comic  opera  stage.  With  the  cor 
rect  swagger  and  hoarseness  of  voice,  he  approached 
and  asked,  "  How's  that  d — d  swill  gettin'  along  ? 
Those  d — d  farmers  around  here  ought  ter  be  clubbed 
ter  death  fer  the  way  they  starve  their  poultry.  I  ain't 
had  a  decent  meal  since  I  left  Syracuse.  How's  yoiir 
hens,  ol'  man,  hey  ? "  and  he  gave  the  unoffending 
tiller  of  the  soil  a  vicious  dig  in  the  ribs  with  the 
end  of  his  cudgel  that  nearly  doubled  him  up. 

The  farmer  drew  away  a  bit,  and  with  a  much 
more  respectful  air  than  he  had  used  when  he 
thought  I  was  alone,  said,  "That  old  buildin'  be 
longs  to  me,  boys;  I  bought  it  from  the  railroad 
company;  take  what  you  want  fer  your  fire,  but  don't 
burn  the  buildin'  itself,  will  ye  ? " 


JOYS   OF  TRAMPING  245 

"There,  now!"  said  Frank;  "I'm  glad  you  told 
us  that,  because  we  thought  it  belonged  to  the  rail 
road,  and  that's  just  what  we  were  goin'  to  do  to 
it — burn  it  up;  but  now,  of  course,  we'll  let  it  alone. 
Won't  you  have  some  breakfast  with  us,  neighbor  ? 
It  don't  look  quite  as  nice  as  it  would  if  that  d — d 
fireman  hadn't  dumped  a  scoopful  of  coal  into  it, 
but  it's  all  the  more  filling,  and  just  as  healthy." 

"No,  thank  ye;  my  breakfast's  waiting  for  me  up 
to  the  house." 

"  Didn't  have  manners  enough  to  return  the  invita 
tion,  did  he  ?"  said  Frank.  "The  first  thing  he'll  do 
will  be  to  count  his  chickens,  and  the  next  to  send 
his  hired  man,  if  he's  got  one,  or  go  himself  if  he 
hasn't,  for  the  constable  to  arrest  two  tramps  that 
are  having  a  blow-out  of  boiled  hen,  down  under  the 
railroad  bridge;  so,  of  course,  we've  got  to  move  out 
of  the  kitchen  into  the  breakfast  room.  Come  on  !  " 

Shoving  his  club  through  the  handle  of  the  pail, 
I  grasped  the  other  end,  and  we  moved  our  Lares 
and  Penates,  not  along  the  track, — oh  no,  we  were 
getting  too  wary  for  such  work  as  that,  —  but  down 
the  bed  of  the  stream,  towards  a  small  wood  half  a 
mile  or  so  away,  where,  having  arrived  at  last,  we 
greedily  devoured  our  long-delayed  meal,  the  first  to 
be  eaten  by  us  in  the  field.  With  pointed  sticks  we 
fished  out  the  fragments  of  the  dismembered  fowls, 
and  what  we  were  unable  to  chew,  we  swallowed 
.whole,  taking  alternate  drinks  from  the  pail,  of  the 
inky  broth  clown  to  the  very  dregs ;  as  the  vegetables 


246  THE  GENERAL   MANAGER'S   STORY 

had  all  boiled  to  a  mush,  I  have  never  been  able 
to  satisfy  myself  even  to  this  day,  that  the  major 
part  of  the  coal  contribution  did  not  remain  sus 
pended  in  it.  However,  be  that  as  it  may,  it  was  a 
most  delicious  and  satisfying  meal,  although  about 
one-third  the  quantity  of  salt  would  have  been  an 
improvement. 

As  we  each  contained  a  fully  matured  fowl,  we 
now  felt  inclined  to  sleep,  and  the  day  being  fine, 
we  crawled  into  a  clump  of  bushes,  and  slept  the 
sleep  that  is  known  only  to  possessors  of  full  stom 
achs  and  clear  consciences. 

I  awoke  about  three  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  lying 
on  my  back,  with  my  mouth  wide  open,  and  so  dry 
that  I  could  not  close  it.  Frank  was  in  the  same 
position,  and  looking  down  his  throat,  I  saw  that  he 
too  was  completely  burned  out  by  the  saline  mess  in 
his  stomach.  I  took  the  pail  down  to  the  brook,  and 
after  taking  the  biggest  drink  that  I  ever  remember, 
filled  it,  carried  it  back,  and  awoke  Frank.  When  he 
saw  me  with  the  pail,  he  reached  for  it  and  drank,  until 
I  thought  I  would  surely  have  to  make  a  second  trip, 
but  he  put  it  down  at  last,  and  said,  "  By  George,  I 
never  lived  so  high  in  my  life.  I  don't  wonder  tramps 
stick  to  their  jobs  as  they  do.  Did  you  ever  eat  any 
thing  as  good  as  that  stew  ?  I  never  did,  and  I  never 
drank  anything  so  good  as  that  water,  nor  so  much." 
We  sat  in  the  warm  sun  and  talked,  and  drank  water, 
Frank  remarking  that  one  of  the  beauties  of  tramping 
was  that  you  didn't  have  to  eat  all  the  time,  for  after 


JOYS  OF  TRAMPING  247 

one  such  hearty  meal  as  we  had  enjoyed  you  could 
live  a  couple  of  days  on  water. 

We  missed  the  comfort  of  a  smoke ;  for  though  we 
each  had  a  pipe  and  matches,  we  had  no  tobacco. 
Frank  asked  me  what  kind  of  a  shot  I  was.  I  told 
him  I  hadn't  fired  a  shot  since  Lee  surrendered  — 
a  standard  joke  on  the  road,  attributed  to  an  in 
tensely  patriotic  blacksmith  in  the  shop,  who  was 
said  to  have  been  all  through  the  war,  and  to  have 
made  the  reply  in  a  very  dignified  manner  to  some 
of  the  boys,  who  invited  him  to  go  on  a  hunting 
party.  He  asked  me  if  I  was  a  good  hand  at  snipe- 
shooting,  and  said  he  would  show  me  how  it  was 
done,  the  next  time  we  came  to  a  town. 

Having  sufficiently  rested  ourselves,  we  returned  by 
a  wide  devour  to  the  railroad,  and  resumed  our  easterly 
course.  We  tramped  along  silently  for  a  while,  when 
on  glancing  back,  I  saw  a  man  coming  after  us  at  a 
rapid  rate.  My  guilty  conscience  took  alarm  at  once, 
and  I  asked  Frank  if  he  supposed  it  could  be  a  con 
stable  after  us,  on  account  of  our  little  irregularity 
of  the  previous  evening.  "  Na-a !  "  said  he,  "  and 
sposen  it  was,  ain't  we  two  to  one  ?  and  what  are 
these  clubs  for?"  I  didn't  just  like  the  reckless, 
defiant  air  that  seemed  to  be  growing  upon  him, 
although  when  I  mentioned  it,  he  assured  me  that 
it  was  from  me  that  he  had  learned  it.  As  the  man 
was  gaining  rapidly  on  us,  we  waited  for  him  to  come 
up.  He  turned  out  to  be  a  young  fellow  of  twenty 
or  thereabouts  who  had  been  working  as  a  section 


248      THE  GENERAL  MANAGER'S  STORY 

hand  on  the  Lehigh  Valley  road.  He  had  been  laid 
off,  and  hearing  that  a  former  employer  had  a  contract 
to  build  some  railroad  in  the  neighborhood  of  Jersey 
City,  this  energetic  young  fellow  had  started  on  a 
walk  of  over  four  hundred  and  twenty  miles  on  the 
bare  possibility  of  getting  employment,  of  the  hardest 
kind,  at  a  dollar,  or  a  dollar  and  a  quarter  per  day, 
provided  the  rumor  proved  to  be  true.  He  was  the 
most  energetic  tramp  that  we  ever  saw.  He  gave  us 
each  a  pipeful  of  tobacco  and  advised  us  to  go  with 
him,  assuring  us  that  he  could  get  us  a  job  on  our 
arrival.  But  when  we  declined,  he  bid  us  good-day 
and  started  off  again  at  a  killing  pace,  saying  that  he 
intended  to  make  forty  miles  per  day,  which,  at  the 
rate  he  was  going,  he  could  easily  do  if  only  he  were 
able  to  keep  it  up. 


CHAPTER   XVI 

THE    MONOTONY    OF     THE    TIES  —  THE    USE   OF    MILK- 
PAILS  A     KINDLY    PROVIDENCE SNIPE-SHOOTING 

—  A    DISCOVERY    IN    NATURAL    HISTORY HUNTING 

TURKEYS HOP-PICKING IN    FUNDS    AGAIN 

TIRING  of  the  monotony  of  the  ties,  we  branched 
off  into  a  country  road.  I,  being  in  advance,  saw 
a  couple  of  half -grown  roosters  fighting  just  inside 
the  fence.  I  reached  in  between  the  bars,  and 
grasped  the  pair  by  their  necks  with  one  hand,  as  they 
were  viciously  but  feebly  pecking  away  at  each  other, 
like  a  pair  of  gamy  but  exhausted  gladiators.  The 
firm  grip  that  I  had  on  their  necks  prevented  them 
from  commenting  on  this  summary  method  of  restor 
ing  the  peace. 

The  house  being  out  of  sight  behind  us,  I  held  my 
kicking  and  flapping  prey  aloft  for  Frank's  admira 
tion.  "  Gosh  !  "  said  he,  "  broilers  for  tea !  What 
better  could  anybody  ask  than  that  ?  "  As  they  were 
inconsiderately  scattering  their  tell-tale  feathers  about 
the  place  and  over  me,  we  quietly  stretched  their 
necks,  and  each  taking  one,  were  carelessly  walking 
along  looking  for  a  good  place  to  establish  our  kitchen, 
when  it  occurred  to  me  that  there  was  no  necessity 
of  making  such  a  vainglorious  display  of  our  suc- 

249 


250  THE  GENERAL   MANAGER'S   STORY 

cess,  and  I  suggested  to  Frank  that  it  would  be  as 
well  to  hide  them  under  our  coats. 

None  too  soon,  either ;  for  we  came  directly  upon 
a  buggy  containing  three  brawny  farmers,  who,  we 
felt  sure,  would  have  interviewed  us  to  our  detriment, 
if  they  had  seen  the  provisions. 

Seeing  signs  of  a  town  ahead  of  us,  we  deter 
mined  to  partake  of  our  evening  meal  before  enter 
ing  ;  so  we  again  took  to  the  convenient  woods,  built 
a  fire,  and  after  having  skinned  and  halved  our  birds, 
held  them  on  sharpened  sticks  to  the  blaze. 

The  result  could  not  be  called  altogether  satisfac 
tory.  In  the  first  place,  the  fire  was  so  hot  that  it 
burned  our  hands  and  faces,  so  that  we  were  unable 
to  hold  the  meat  in  sufficiently  close  proximity  to 
it  long  enough  to  cook  it  thoroughly,  although  we 
did  succeed  in  getting  it  well  smoked.  "  What  fools 
we  are,"  said  Frank,  "to  stand  over  this  fire  and 
roast  ourselves  here.  This  is  the  way  to  do  it ; 
see  ? "  and  sharpening  the  end  of  his  stick  he  stuck 
it  in  the  ground  in  such  a  way  that  the  half  bird 
hung  over  near  the  flame.  This  was  such  an  evi 
dent  improvement,  that  we  both  hurried  to  cut  other 
sticks,  on  which  to  impale  the  rest  of  our  meat.  But, 
alas,  on  returning  to  the  kitchen,  we  found  that  an 
eddy  of  wind  had  caused  the  fire  to  burn  our  sticks 
off ;  and  as  the  broils  had  disappeared,  it  was  safe  to 
infer  that  they  had  fallen  into  the  fire. 

A  hasty  scattering  of  the  brands  brought  them  to 
light,  sadly  scorched  and  withered,  but  as  we  soon 


SONS  OF  REST  251 

found,  juicy  and  raw  within.  A  short  consultation 
resulted  in  our  getting  sticks  five  or  six  feet  long,  for 
the  next  experiment,  so  that  we  could  sit  at  a  com 
fortable  distance  from  the  fire  ourselves,  and  still 
retain  control  over  the  culinary  operations.  We 
squatted  on  our  hunkers  until  we  ached,  holding  the 
remainder  of  our  provisions  to  the  fire  with  one 
hand,  like  simple  Simon  fishing  for  the  whale,  while 
we  gnawed  alternate  mouthfuls  of  cinder  and  raw 
chicken  from  the  other. 

By  the  time  we  had  finished  our  repast,  we  were 
spitting  ink,  and  unable  to  realize  that  we  had  dined ; 
so  we  voted  the  broil  a  failure,  and  decided  here 
after  to  stew  our  provisions.  Not  the  least  con 
vincing  argument  which  led  to  this  decision,  was  the 
fact  that  rock  salt  when  licked  between  mouthfuls, 
did  not  assimilate  with  the  food  as  satisfactorily  as 
when  boiled  with  it,  to  say  nothing  of  the  flavor  of 
vegetables  and  the  filling  qualities  of  water ;  and 
Frank  sagely  observed  that  as  providence  had  so 
kindly  impressed  upon  the  minds  of  the  New  York 
farmers  the  desirability  of  leaving  their  milk-pails 
out  of  doors  over  night,  we  never  need  lack  for 
cooking-utensils,  or  take  the  trouble  to  carry  them 
with  us. 

As  there  was  nothing  to  detain  us  longer  in  the 
woods,  we  started  for  the  town,  where  Frank  was 
desirous  of  arriving  before  dark,  in  order  to  initiate 
me  into  the  noble  sport  of  snipe-shooting,  this  ex 
ceedingly  gamy  fowl  being  most  easily  traced  to  its 


252  THE  GENERAL  MANAGER'S   STORY 

lair  in  daylight.  "  Oh,  there's  a  fine  one.  See  ? " 
Yes,  I  saw  a  cigar  butt.  Frank  stooped  with  an 
air  of  well-affected  carelessness,  as  if  to  scratch  his 
ankle,  and  "  lifted "  the  snipe.  We  left  town  well 
stocked  with  a  varied  outfit  of  tobacco  —  Havana, 
Connecticut,  North  Carolina.  We  had  all  the  brands. 

We  were  not  lucky  that  night  in  our  search  for 
shelter ;  and  at  last  had  recourse  to  a  field  filled  with 
haycocks,  under  one  of  which  we  found  most  uncom 
fortable  lodgings.  The  stubble  underneath  pricked 
us,  and  the  damp,  half-cured  hay  was  unpleasant  and 
inefficient  as  bed-clothes.  During  the  night  it 
rained,  and  after  trying  in  vain  to  shelter  ourselves 
with  the  hay  until  we  were  drenched,  we  left  our 
inhospitable  quarters,  and  tramped  wearily  and  dis 
consolately  along  the  track  in  single  file,  I  grum 
bling  at  our  ill-luck,  and  Frank,  the  philosopher, 
assuring  me  that  as  we  were  in  the  worst  possible 
predicament  now,  the  next  change  was  bound  to  be 
for  the  better.  And  so  it  was;  for  there  suddenly 
loomed  up  in  front  of  us  a  vacant  barn,  or  something, 
into  which  we  crawled,  and  finding  a  dry  corner, 
shivered  and  slept,  slept  and  shivered,  until  daylight. 

We  were  driven  out  by  hunger,  ravenous  hunger, 
and  made  a  discovery  which  was  ever  afterward  of 
inestimable  benefit  to  us.  It  was  that  in  the  early 
morning  the  barnyard  fowls  go  a-field  in  search,  I 
presume,  of  the  proverbial  early  worm.  In  thus  put 
ting  a  respectable  distance  between  themselves  and 
the  homestead,  they  confer  a  priceless  boon  upon 


SONS  OF  REST  253 

such  hungry  wayfarers  as  have  sworn  to  subsist 
solely  on  the  fruit  of  the  chase. 

Another  new  and  strange  trait  in  the  characters 
of  these  bipeds  we  discovered,  which  was,  that  when 
hunting  in  the  long  grass,  they  would  not  —  as  in  all 
other  cases  —  flee  squawking  towards  home  on  our 
approach,  but  content  themselves  with  merely  squat 
ting  quietly  in  their  tracks,  whence  we  raised  them 
in  a  loving  embrace. 

We  never  starved  after  that ;  for,  though  we  did 
not  restrict  our  hunting  to  this  unexciting  method, 
we  depended  on  it  when  all  else  failed.  I  shall 
never  forget  the  day  when  we  made  our  first  capture 
of  half-grown  turkeys.  We  came  upon  them  in  a 
field,  —  not  a  house  nor  a  human  being  in  sight ; 
there  must  have  been  twenty-five  or  thirty  of  them  — 
long-legged,  long-necked,  peeping  Toms.  It  looked 
as  though  we  could  walk  right  in  among  them  and 
pick  them  up,  but  that  was  a  mistake;  for  though 
they  didn't  run  off  to  any  distance,  they  dodged,  and 
fluttered,  and  peeped;  and  we  ran  after  them,  and 
fell  down,  until  at  last,  exasperated,  we  fired  our 
clubs  at  the  bunches  of  them  with  force  enough  to 
have  knocked  down  a  house ;  and,  somehow,  the  club 
would  fly  over  their  heads,  or  hit  a  stone  and  be  de 
flected  from  its  course,  while  they  would  huddle  to 
gether  in  a  scared  crowd,  and  peep  at  us  as  we  ran, 
red-faced  and  breathless,  after  our  clubs  again. 

Of  course,  we  succeeded  at  last ;  and,  with  a  whole 
boiled  turkey  inside  of  each  of  us,  together  with  the 


254  THE  GENERAL  MANAGER'S   STORY 

"fixin's,"  we  enjoyed  the  sound  sleep  which  is  the 
invariable  reward  of  honest  and  successfid  endeavor. 

The  turkeys  were  so  luscious  that  we  decided, 
hereafter,  to  dally  no  more  with  the  robust  physique 
of  the  maternal  hen,  as  long  as  this  year's  turkeys 
were  available.  Three  days  we  camped  in  the  neigh 
borhood,  and  infested  that  turkey-run ;  then,  not 
wishing  to  outstay  our  welcome,  we  turned  our  faces 
again  to  the  rising  sun,  each  carrying  a  smoke-be 
grimed  tin  pail  containing  two  dismembered  young 
turkeys,  preserved  with  the  last  of  our  salt  pounded 
fine. 

As  our  next  meal  must  be  eaten  fresh,  unless  we 
could  procure  salt,  we  drew  straws  to  decide  who 
should  beg  that  which  we  were  unable  to  stea —  levy. 

I  was  elected,  as  I  felt  sure  I  should  be,  and,  taking 
our  only  tankard  (anglict,  tomato  can),  I  sheepishly 
knocked  at  the  door  of  the  first  house.  A  vixenish 
female  shouted  to  me  from  within,  to  the  effect  that 
if  I  didn't  clear  out  she  would  set  "Tige"  at  me. 
I  asked  if  she  wouldn't  please  give  me  a  little  salt. 

"Salt!"  she  shrieked;  "for  the  land's  sake,  what 
do  you  want  with  salt  ?  I  never  knew  a  tramp  to 
come  beggin'  for  salt,  before.  Yes,  I'll  give  you  all 
the  salt  you  want.  The  Lord  knows,  I  wish  they 
wouldn't  none  of  'em  ask  for  anything  else  but  salt." 

So  saying,  and  having  relieved  me  of  the  embarrass 
ing  necessity  of  answering  her  first  question  by  her 
own  flow  of  volubility,  she  filled  my  can  with  salt ; 
and  thus  ended  my  first  and  only  experience  in 


SONS  OF  REST  255 

begging,  of  which  I  was,  and  am  yet,  heartily 
ashamed. 

In  order  to  show  our  gratitude  to  the  lady,  we 
gathered  in  fourteen  ducklings  which  we  found 
paddling  in  a  little  pond  just  out  of  sight  of  the 
house.  They  were  insignificant  little  yellow  balls  of 
fluff,  and,  as  we  disdained  to  accept  the  parent  duck, 
they  served  merely  to  thicken  and  flavor  our  soup. 

I  sometimes  became  discouraged,  and  wished  that 
we  might  find  a  job  somewhere ;  but  Frank's  light- 
heartedness  never  failed  him,  and  it  seemed  especially 
to  break  out  every  little  while  at  my  expense.  One 
day  I  awkwardly  stubbed  my  toe,  with  the  result  that 
the  sole  of  my  shoe  parted  company  with  the  upper, 
as  far  back  as  the  instep.  At  this  mishap,  Frank 
—  whose  shoes  remained  strangely  sound — laughed 
uproariously.  As  I  was  obliged  to  lift  my  foot  high 
in  the  air,  and  bring  it  down  with  a  scraping  motion 
to  prevent  doubling  the  sole  under  me,  I  suppose 
that  my  gait  was  rather  odd,  but  it  seemed  to  me  that 
I  was  entitled  to  sympathy  from  him ;  instead  of 
which  I  got  the  jeering  remark,  "Ho!  ho!  you're 
done ;  you'll  soon  be  barefoot  now."  I  so  forgot 
myself  as  to  make  a  vicious  swipe  at  him  with  my 
club,  which  he  ducked,  to  be  sure;  but  I  had  the 
satisfaction  of  seeing  the  top  of  his  hat  fly  off,  leav 
ing  him  only  the  rim  and  sides. 

This  was  exceedingly  gratifying  to  me ;  for  on 
account  of  Frank's  neat  and  tidy  habits,  his  clothing 
was  in  a  much  better  state  of  preservation  than  mine. 


256  THE  GENERAL  MANAGER'S   STORY 

No  matter  where  we  slept,  in  barn  or  box-car,  he  al 
ways  laid  his  hat  carefully  at  a  safe  distance ;  turned 
his  coat  inside  out,  folded  it  carefully,  and  laid  it 
under  his  head ;  then  on  rising  he  would  brush  and 
shake  his  clothes,  picking  off  every  speck  of  hayseed 
or  dirt,  while  I  impatiently  called  him  to  come  on. 
I  usually  laid  my  hat  handy,  so  that  in  case  we  were 
disturbed  I  could  be  sure  of  finding  it,  with  the  in 
variable  result,  that  I  would  lie  on  it  during  the 
night,  —  a  treatment  which  a  straw  hat  resents  by 
becoming  prematurely  venerable  in  appearance,  with 
its  brim  turned  half  a  dozen  different  ways,  and  its 
crown  a  shapeless  mass.  I  slept  in  my  coat  for  the 
same  reason,  and  as  I  had  not  the  patience  to  go  all 
over  it  the  way  he  did,  it  not  only  became  shapeless, 
but  also  very  dirty.  Hence  I  was  well  pleased  to 
see  his  carefully  preserved  hat  become  at  one  fell 
blow  more  dilapidated  even  than  mine. 

The  good-natured  fellow  only  laughed  at  my  rage 
and  his  own  mishap,  and  set  himself  at  once  to  sew 
the  crown  in  again  with  a  piece  of  tough  grass ;  using 
the  small  blade  of  his  knife  for  an  awl.  I  found  a 
piece  of  rusty  wire  and  tied  the  sole  of  my  shoe  up 
the  best  way  I  could,  but  not  being  as  handy  as  he, 
I  made  but  a  poor  job  of  it,  the  wire  continually 
coming  off ;  while  one  would  have  had  to  look  sharp 
to  notice  the  repairs  to  his  hat. 

That  afternoon  we  entered  a  small  village,  and 
spurred  on  by  necessity,  I  entered  a  cobbler's  shop, 
and  asked  for  the  loan  of  a  few  pegs  to  fasten  my 


SONS  OF  REST  257 

sole  on  with.  The  kindly  German  not  only  gave  me 
pegs,  but  seeing  that  I  was  unable  to  do  the  job  my 
self,  he  roughly  pegged  it  on  for  me  ;  for  which  I 
thanked  him  profusely  at  the  time,  and  repeat  it  here 
now. 

We  avoided  as  much  as  possible  associating  with 
the  fraternity.  Sometimes  we  walked  as  hard  as  we 
could  for  a  day  or  two,  —  why,  we  knew  not,  —  then 
again  we  would  loiter  for  days ;  resting  our  tired 
feet  and  absorbing  ozone.  One  whole  day  we  spent 
on  top  of  a  small  hill,  with  a  few  pine  trees  growing 
about.  The  most  of  the  day  I  occupied  myself  trying 
to  kill  an  old  woodchuck,  who  had  a  hole  under  a 
stump  on  the  side  of  the  hill.  I  would  lie  on  my 
belly  just  above  his  hole,  with  a  big  rock  and  watch 
for  him  to  come  out ;  by  and  by  I  would  see  the  tip 
of  a  gray  snout  where  there  had  before  been  nothing 
but  hole.  I  would  not  be  able  to  perceive  the  slight 
est  movement  to  it,  and  yet  after  a  while  I  could  see 
that  it  was  farther  out  than  before ;  slowly,  imper 
ceptibly,  like  the  hour  hand  of  a  clock,  it  would 
emerge.  When  the  entire  head  was  in  sight,  I  would 
cautiously  raise  my  rock,  only  to  see  it  disappear 
like  a  flash  at  the  very  first  move  I  made.  It  must 
be  terrible  to  have  cultivated  caution  all  one's  life 
to  such  a  degree  that  every  sound,  no  matter  how 
slight,  should  overwhelm  one  with  the  fear  of  death. 
I  think  I  would  rather  be  dead  at  once  and  have  it 
over  with. 

It  would  be  hours  before  the  gray  muzzle  would 


258      THE  GENERAL  MANAGER'S  STORY 

appear  again ;  during  all  of  which  time  I  was  obliged 
to  lie  so  absolutely  still  that  every  bone  in  me  ached, 
while  innumerable  creeping  and  buzzing  things  dis 
ported  and  regaled  themselves  at  my  expense.  I  soon 
learned  that  my  only  hope  of  success  lay  in  having 
my  rock  poised  ready  when  the  time  came,  and  so  I 
held  it  aloft  for  ages,  as  it  seemed,  and  wished  that 
he  would  come  out,  and  sympathized  with  Saint 
Simon  Stylites ;  and  when  at  last  the  auspicious  mo 
ment  arrived,  I  was  so  stiff  and  cramped  that  the 
rock  didn't  hit  within  a  foot  of  the  hole,  and  wouldn't 
have  hit  him  if  it  had;  for  he  was  too  quick.  I 
wanted  that  woodchuck  awfully  that  afternoon,  for  I 
had  heard,  when  a  boy,  that  they  made  a  splendid 
roast ;  so  I  was  terribly  disappointed,  when  at  last 
I  had  to  acknowledge  that  I  must  give  up.  I  have 
since  learned  that  they  are  not  nice ;  so  I  don't  care 
anything  about  it  now. 

As  we  meandered  gently  along  the  great  steel 
highway,  we  heard  from  some  of  the  riff-raff  whom 
we  met  —  or  more  frequently  who  overtook  and 
passed  us  —  fairy-like  tales  of  the  pleasures  and 
profits  of  hop-picking.  So  hoping  to  be  able  to  en 
joy  ourselves,  and  at  the  same  time  earn  the  where 
withal  to  replenish  our  dilapidated  wardrobes,  we 
said  that  we  would  pick  hops  —  provided  we  reached 
the  hop  country  in  time.  Shortly  after  coming  to  this 
conclusion,  we  were  hailed  one  day  by  a  big,  clean, 
wholesome-looking  young  German  with :  "  Say,  you 
fellers  don'  look  like  regly  tramps ;  do  you  vant  to 


SONS  OF  REST 

vork  ?  "  "  Yes,"  said  I,  hastily,  thinking  of  my  weak 
shoe,  and  some  other  things. 

"  Veil,  all  thright !  I  gif  you  tventy  dollers  de 
mont,  and  board,  to  thravel  mit  a  dhrashin  machine ; 
vat  you  say  ?  "  Before  I  could  get  my  mouth  open, 
Frank  blurted  out,  "  Naw,  it's  too  hard  work  —  we're 
hop-pickers." 

"  So-o  ?  I  guess  you  fellers  don'  vants  to  vork 
vera  mooch ;  you  are  netting  else  as  regly  thramps  ; 
dat's  betther  you  look  out  for  dem  bolicemons  ;  I  dell 
you  he  make  you  vork." 

I  was*so  mad  I  could  hardly  keep  from  taking  an 
other  crack  at  Frank's  hat ;  twenty  dollars  a  month 
and  grub  !  a  fortune  within  our  grasp  !  But  he  said 
he  had  heard  of  those  threshing-machine  jobs  before. 
He  said  they  never  hired  anybody  but  tramps ;  worked 
them  eighteen  hours  per  day,  starved  them  to  death, 
and  then  refused  to  pay  ;  sometimes  even  having 
them  arrested  on  a  false  charge  of  thieving. 

From  the  Syracuse  salt  pans  we  replenished  our 
stock  of  salt,  breaking  off  the  long  "icicles"  that 
formed  wherever  there  was  a  slight  leak,  and  as  I 
became  worried  for  fear  we  should  be  late  at  the  hop- 
fields,  we  stowed  ourselves  away  in  the  feed-trough 
of  an  empty  "  palace  horse  car,"  and  rode  to  Oneida, 
where  we  saw  the  — to  us  —  strange  and  disenchant 
ing  sight  of  women  in  bloomers ;  from  here  we  took 
a  day's  march  down  into  Madison  County  where  the 
hops  grow.  We  had  heard  in  Oneida  that  the  hop 
crop  was  heavy,  and  that  pickers  were  not  offering 


260  THE  GENERAL   MANAGER'S   STORY 

themselves  in  very  great  quantities,  so  we  were  em 
boldened  to  strike  the  owner  of  a  flourishing  hop- 
yard  for  a  job.  He  hemmed  and  hawed,  said  he 
usually  engaged  his  pickers  in  advance  ;  but  admitted 
that  this  season  he  hadn't  attended  to  it.  This  was 
our  cue,  and  we  expatiated  on  the  scarcity  of  pickers  ; 
we  had  come  directly  from  Oneida  and  knew  whereof 
we  spoke.  He  eyed  us  suspiciously,  —  our  appear 
ance  was  certainly  not  prepossessing,  —  and  then  re 
marked  that  this  was  only  Thursday,  and  he  wasn't 
going  to  begin  until  Monday.  But  we  assured  him 
that  he  had  better  secure  us  now  or  he  would  regret 
it.  We  promised  to  work  for  our  board  in  the  mean 
time  ;  but  he  said  that  there  were  only  two  more 
working  days,  and  then  he  would  have  to  keep  us  over 
Sunday  for  nothing.  Our  eloquence  finally  prevailed 
over  his  mercenary  scruples,  and  he  set  us  to  the 
time-honored  tramp's  employment  of  sawing  wood. 
We  had  eaten  nothing  that  day,  and  as  we  bent  our 
backs  to  the  unfamiliar  work,  we  perspired,  and  felt 
dizzy  and  faint. 

As  it  was  late  in  the  afternoon,  we  buoyed  up  our 
hopes  with  the  thoughts  of  the  good  farmhouse  supper 
we  were  to  get  later  on  ;  and  seeing  several  immense 
cans  near  the  barnyard,  we  revelled  expectantly  in 
the  luxury  of  oceans  of  bread  and  milk,  new  milk 
fresh  from  the  cow. 

When  it  began  to  get  dark,  the  hands  drove  up  a 
large  herd  of  cows,  and  from  where  we  slaved  on  our 
empty  stomachs  we  could  dimly  see  them  emerge, 


SONS  OF  REST  26 1 

one  after  another,  and  pour  the  contents  of  their 
milk-pails  into  the  big  cans,  which  they  had  previ 
ously  loaded  on  a  wagon.  I  could  stand  it  no  longer, 
so,  dropping  my  saw,  I  said  to  Frank,  "  I'm  going 
to  have  a  drink  of  milk  if  the  whole  road  stops." 
As  I  neared  the  wagon,  a  big,  good-natured-looking 
countryman  approached  it  from  the  other  side ;  and 
I  said,  "Hey,  Johnny !  give  us  a  drink  of  milk,  will 
ye?" 

He  stared  at  me  a  moment,  then  emptying  his  pail 
where  so  many  had  preceded  it,  thumbed  his  nose  at 
me,  and  said  in  that  aggravating,  smarty  way,  that 
such  people  frequently  have,  "  No,  sirree ;  thet 
milk's  for  the  cheese  factory,  not  for  tramps."  And 
there  were  barrels  of  it. 

At  last,  when  the  cows  were  milked,  the  chores  all 
done,  and  it  was  too  dark  to  see  anything,  the 
"  help,"  after  noisily  washing  themselves  at  a  rain 
water  barrel,  and  bragging  in  loud  voices  —  for  the 
farmer's  benefit — about  how  much  work  they  had 
done,  and  how  much  they  could  do,  blundered 
clumsily  into  the  house. 

"Well,  blast  them!"  said  Frank;  "I  wonder  if 
they  don't  intend  to  call  us  to  supper.  I've  a  great 
mind  to  collar  a  couple  of  his  chickens,  and  a  pail  of 
that  milk  they're  so  almighty  stingy  with,  and  clear 
out."  Just  then  the  tall,  gaunt  form  of  the  farmer 
appeared  in  the  door,  and  he  sung  out,  "  Hey,  you 
two  men,  come  in  an'  eat." 

"I  should  think  he  was  calling   his   hogs,"  said 


262  THE  GENERAL   MANAGER'S   STORY 

Frank,  —  "'come  in  an'  eat!''  However,  our  in 
dignation  did  not  prevent  us  from  responding  with 
alacrity  to  the  summons. 

A  pan  of  cold  boiled  potatoes,  with  their  jackets 
on,  and  a  four-pound  piece  of  cold  boiled  salt  pork, 
all  fat,  and  a  loaf  of  bread  that  might  have  been  one 
of  the  foundation  bricks  of  the  tower  of  Babel, — this, 
and  nothing  more,  was  the  evening  meal  spread  by 
this  wealthy  farmer  of  the  Empire  State  for  himself, 
his  family,  and  his  help.  No,  I  do  the  good  man  an 
injustice ;  there  was  a  big  white  pitcher  of  well  water, 
cold  and  sparkling,  to  be  sure,  but  with  the  flavor  of 
all  his  Dutch  ancestors  pervading  it.  Afterwards, 
when  from  long  residence  I  acquired  the  privilege 
of  being  familiar  with  the  help,  I  asked  one  of  them 
if  they  ever  cleaned  out  the  well.  He  answered  by 
asking,  "What  fer?" 

I  am  not,  and  never  was,  "partial "  to  fat  salt  pork ; 
neither  was  Frank.  That  night  as  we  composed  our 
selves  to  sleep  in  the  hop-kiln,  Frank  asked  me  how 
I  liked  hop-picking  as  far  as  I  had  got.  I  told  him 
not  to  be  discouraged ;  I  said  that  we  had  accom 
plished  something  anyway,  for  instead  of  tramps,  we 
were  now  "honest  workingmen."  On  Monday  the 
hop-pickers  arrived,  and  a  busy  scene  at  once  ensued. 
The  farmer  put  on  his  store  clothes  and  developed  at 
once  into  a  "boss."  He  was  even  too  dignified  to 
superintend  the  work  himself.  There  was  one  man 
who  was  boss  of  the  whole  outfit,  like  a  general 
superintendent,  and  then  there  were  division  super- 


SONS  OF  REST  263 

intendents  under  him,  called  "  pole-pullers."  They 
were  pretty  big  men  in  their  small  way.  Although 
the  experienced  pickers  feared  them  not,  yet  to 
strangers,  and  tough-looking  strangers  like  Frank 
and  me,  they  were  offensively  pompous.  As  Sancho 
Panza  said  when  eulogizing  his  master,  they  were 
"  humble  with  the  haughty,  and  haughty  with  the 
humble."  They  said  that  we  put  too  many  leaves  in 
with  our  hops,  and  kicked  because  we  were  so  long 
filling  our  boxes,  although  the  Lord  knows  we  were 
anxious  enough  to  fill  them  quickly ;  for  the  longer 
you  are  about  it,  the  more  you  have  to  put  in,  as 
they  wilt  so  fast,  and  being  paid  by  the  box,  a  slow 
picker  is  obliged  to  pick  many  more  hops  for  the 
same  amount  of  money  than  a  rapid  one  is.  The 
old  timers,  pretty  girls,  and  fast  pickers,  can  cajole 
the  pole-puller  into  bringing  them  good  poles,  i.e. 
those  on  which  the  hops  grow  in  big,  thick  clusters, 
so  that  they  can  be  scraped  off  by  the  handful, 
rapidly  filling  the  box ;  while  the  unfortunates  who 
are  without  influence  must  take  the  measly  ones,  on 
which  leaves  predominate.  Needless  to  say,  Frank 
and  I  were  in  the  latter  class,  so  we  stood  there  and 
picked,  and  sweated,  and  labored  like  galley  slaves,  to 
fill  the  apparently  bottomless  box ;  while  the  others, 
being  acquainted  and  respectable,  chatted,  laughed, 
and  sang  songs  all  day,  thereby  grievously  emphasiz 
ing  our  Ishmaelitish  condition.  In  the  evening  they 
met  at  different  hop-yards,  as  they  were  called,  and 
passed  the  time  dancing  and  enjoying  themselves. 


264  THE  GENERAL  MANAGER'S   STORY 

At  these  merrymakings  we  were  allowed  to  look 
on. 

With  the  arrival  of  the  hop-pickers,  our  fare  sud 
denly  and  wonderfully  improved,  for  no  man  dare 
feed  his  pickers  poorly ;  if  he  did,  he  would  get  none 
the  next  season.  It  is  the  only  "trade"  that  I  know 
of  where  the  operatives  are  so  independent.  How 
we  two  hungry  tramps  did  cover  ourselves  with  glory 
at  the  table.  We  would  be  the  first  to  sit  down,  and 
would  shovel  away  for  dear  life,  until  the  last  picker 
had  returned  to  work,  and  then  for  shame's  sake  we 
had  to  leave  the  table  still  hungry ;  and  though  we 
kept  it  up  during  our  stay,  we  never  succeeded  in 
filling  that  long-felt  want. 

As  it  is  one  of  the  axioms  of  hop-picking  that  in 
the  cool  of  the  morning,  while  the  dew  is  still  on  the 
hops,  they  wilt  less  rapidly  than  later  on,  and  there 
fore  the  boxes  can  be  more  quickly  filled,  the  ethics 
of  the  trade  require  early  rising.  And  the  same 
being  true  of  the  evening,  the  frugal  pickers  put  in 
an  outrageously  long  day,  for  pay  at  which  an 
Italian  laborer  would  turn  up  his  patrician  nose.  On 
the  first  Saturday  night,  we  lined  up  with  the  rest, 
and  presenting  our  tickets  which  had  been  punched 
by  the  pole-puller  during  the  week,  to  show  the 
number  of  "  hop-sacks  "  we  had  filled,  received  our 
pay,  or  rather,  to  simplify  the  transaction,  I  pre 
sented  both  tickets  and  received  the  money. 

That  evening  we  went  to  the  store  and  bought 
smoking-tobacco,  pipes,  matches,  and  socks.  How 


SONS  OF  REST  265 

good  it  was  to  smoke  tobacco  at  first  hand  once 
more,  and  to  wear  socks  with  feet  to  them,  instead 
of  the  hollow  mockeries  which  we  had  been  wear 
ing  now  for  some  time,  and  which  required  constant 
watching  to  prevent  them  soaring  above  the  tops 
of  our  shoes,  and  revealing  our  poverty-stricken 
makeshifts  to  an  unsympathetic  world ! 

How  Frank  managed  it,  I  don't  know ;  but  on 
the  following  Sunday  he  borrowed  shaving-tools 
from  one  of  the  hands,  and  took  off  the  villanous 
looking  red  stubble  that  had  so  long  disfigured  him. 
I  never  had  noticed  before  that  he  was  particularly 
good  looking,  so  that  I  was  surprised  to  see  how 
handsome  he  was,  and  treated  myself  to  the  same 
luxury,  with  the  extremely  gratifying  result  that 
one  of  the  Oneida  belles  actually  smiled  on  me,  —  or 
at  me,  —  and  that  night  I  dreamed  dreams. 


CHAPTER   XVII 

GOOD-BYE    TO    HOP-PICKING — THE    INDUSTRIAL    FEVER 

WE    STEAL    A   RIDE THE  IMPERIOUS  BRAKEMAN 

SUBSISTING   AGAIN    ON   THE   ENEMY'S  COUNTRY  — 

TEN    DAYS    IN   JAIL MUCH    NEEDED    REST HIRED 

AT    LAST AT   THE   THROTTLE    AGAIN 

WE,  being  two  of  the  poorest  pickers,  were  the 
first  to  be  discharged.  The  farmer  let  us  stay  over 
night,  and  gave  us  our  breakfasts  next  morning, 
for  which  act  of  Christian  charity  I  hereby  return 
thanks.  Perhaps  he  wished  to  give  us  the  oppor 
tunity  to  put  a  day's  march  between  ourselves  and 
his  farm  before  dark.  Cheerily  we  took  to  the  high 
way  again.  It  was  a  beautiful  summer's  morning, 
and  our  spirits  rose  with  the  genial  surroundings, 
until  I,  mistaking  the  cause  of  our  hilarity,  asked 
Frank  if  he  didn't  think  it  made  a  person  feel  happy 
and  independent  to  have  money  in  his  pocket. 

He  looked  off  up  the  road,  gave  a  queer  smile, 
and  said,  "I  dunno."  It  was  the  only  allusion  he 
ever  made  to  the  fact  that  I  had  constituted  myself 
the  treasurer  of  the  concern.  However,  I  didn't 
let  on  that  I  noticed ;  and  as  we  shortly  came  in 
sight  of  another  hop-yard,  we  applied  for  work, 

266 


Roundhouse  Studies.  — p.  266. 


HIRED  AGAIN  267 

and,  to  our  surprise,  were  hired  at  once,  and  at 
a  slightly  advanced  rate  of  pay,  too.  We  stayed 
a  week  in  this  place ;  and  then,  the  season  being 
over,  we  rose  from  our  dormitory  in  the  barn  bright 
and  early,  seized  two  pairs  of  pullets,  whose  roosting- 
place  we  had  noted  the  night  before,  confiscated  the 
necessary  milk-pail ;  and  having  laid  in  a  supply  of 
vegetables, — also  from  our  late  employer's  garden, 
—  we  withdrew  to  a  near-by  sylvan  dell,  and  break 
fasted.  But  after  the  recent  festivities  our  primi 
tive  cooking  palled  on  my  pampered  palate,  and  I 
declared  in  favor  of  a  job,  wages,  and  a  boarding- 
house.  To  all  of  which  Frank  gave  a  ready  assent. 
With  this  determination  to  quit  at  the  earliest  oppor 
tunity  the  ancient  and  honorable  order  misnamed 
"  Sons  of  Rest,"  we  once  more  entered  the  highway, 
I,  for  one,  sincerely  hoping  that  here  might  end 
the  trail  of  bones  and  feathers  that  had  so  far 
marked  our  course  across  the  Empire  State.  We 
met  a  typical  wanderer,  who  turned  up  his  nose  at 
us,  when  we  told  him  that  we  had  been  picking  hops. 
He  said  that  he  was  going  to  the  Oneida  Commu 
nity  to  get  a  job  husking  corn,  and  advised  us  to 
come  along,  saying  that  it  paid  better  than  hop- 
picking,  which  he  contemptuously  referred  to  as 
a  "bum  job." 

The  industrial  fever  being  strong  upon  us,  we 
agreed,  and  before  nightfall  had  been  refused  em 
ployment,  with  suspicious  glances,  and  curt  speech, 
by  the  superintendent  of  the  cannery.  Once  more 


268  THE  GENERAL  MANAGER'S   STORY 

we  were  obliged  to  pursue  military  tactics,  and  sub 
sist  upon  the  enemy's  country. 

The  next  day  we  fitted  ourselves  out  with  cheap 
cotton  trousers,  straw  hats,  and  cowhide  shoes.  We 
also  bought  two  cheap  shirts  each,  experience  having 
taught  us  that  the  clothes-lines  of  the  country  were 
an  unreliable  source  on  which  to  depend  for  under 
wear,  the  native  women  having  a  custom  which 
cannot  be  too  strongly  deprecated,  of  taking  in  the 
wash  before  dark.  We  treated  ourselves  to  a  res 
taurant  dinner,  and  then,  not  having  money  enough 
left  to  amount  to  anything,  we  bought  a  bag  of 
salt ;  and  feeling  the  need  of  stimulant  after  our 
hard  season's  labor,  we  spent  the  very  modest 
remainder  in  beer,  and  for  a  brief  hour  or  so  we 
knew  the  elation  of  spirit  and  freedom  from  cark- 
ing  care  that  a  moderate  indulgence  in  this  mild 
form  of  alcohol  produces. 

That  night  found  us  snugly  ensconced  in  the  cor 
ner  of  an  empty  box-car,  en  route  for  the  effete 
east.  If  it  is  true  that  "  westward  the  tide  of 
empire  takes  its  way,"  then  indeed  was  ours  a  retro 
grade  movement.  If  any  person  had  asked  us  where 
we  were  going,  we  could  not  have  told  him ;  all  we 
knew  was  that  we  wanted  a  job.  And  while  every 
freight  train  on  every  railroad  in  the  country  was 
taking  homeless,  unemployed  men  —  tramps  —  from 
the  overcrowded  east  to  the  great  and  growing 
west  in  search  of  a  place  where  their  labor  would 
purchase  for  them  that  which  nature  furnishes  in 


HIRED  AGAIN  269 

abundance  to  every  living  thing  but  man,  —  food 
and  shelter,  —  we  two,  who  had  sat  for  years  on  the 
right  side  of  locomotives, — the  master  spirits  of 
moving  trains,  —  squeezed  ourselves  tightly  into  the 
corner  of  an  old-box  car,  to  evade  the  glance  of 
the  imperious  brakeman  who  had  looked  in  while 
the  train  stood  at  the  water-plug,  that  we  might 
go  east. 

Before  we  slept,  we  had  decided  that  the  only 
thing  left  for  us  was  to  seek  employment  of  the 
lowest  grade,  —  pick  and  shovel  work.  Why,  I  don't 
know,  unless  it  was  that  we  were  influenced  by  our 
environment.  Certainly  we  didn't  look  to  be  fit 
for  anything  else,  and  so  I  suppose  we  didn't  feel 
that  we  were. 

For  a  week  we  passed  through  an  experience 
that  was  both  humiliating  and  abusive.  Brakemen, 
becoming  exasperated  when  we  told  them  that  we 
had  no  money,  flung  us  headlong  from  rapidly  mov 
ing  trains.  City  and  village  policemen  ordered  us 
to  keep  moving  until  we  should  be  clear  of  their 
territory.  Even  the  ducks  by  the  roadside  insulted 
our  galled  feet  and  weary  limbs  by  admonishing  us, 
in  all  seriousness,  to  "wa'k,  wa'k,  wa'k ! "  "Well, 
blast  ye,  ain't  we  walkin'  ? "  said  Frank.  Once, 
while  standing  on  a  bridge  and  looking  down  at  the 
railroad  yard  in  Dewitt,  a  very  black,  ragged,  and 
filthy  negro  touched  me  on  the  shoulder  and  said 
kindly,  but  with  an  air  of  freedom  and  equality 
that  profoundly  impressed  me  with  my  degradation  : 


2/O  THE  GENERAL  MANAGER'S  STORY 

"  Hey,  Johnny !  yer  better  go  som'er's  'n'  pick  de 
hayseed  off' n  yer  clo'es ;  if  dese  yer  railroad  detec 
tives  sees  yer,  dey'll  run  yer  in,  fer  suah,  'n'  yer'll 
git  a  month  in  de  cooler." 

It  was  true  we  had  slept  in  a  barn  that  night ; 
and  while  Frank,  with  his  usual  neatness,  had  care 
fully  shaken  and  picked  all  the  hayseed  from  his 
clothes,  the  telltales  had  marked  me,  even  to  this 
negro  tramp,  as  a  member  of  the  order. 

All  these  disagreeable  incidents  tended  to  disgust 
us  more  and  more  with  our  condition ;  but  although 
we  faithfully  asked  for  employment  at  every  place 
where  there  seemed  the  slightest  prospect  that  it 
might  be  obtained,  the  fates,  aided  no  doubt  by  our 
disreputable  appearance,  were  against  us,  and  our 
proffered  services  were  coldly  declined.  At  last, 
that  which  we  had  dreaded  in  an  indefinable  way 
for  some  time  came  to  pass.  We  were  bathing  in 
the  Mohawk  one  day,  —  a  daily  practice  which  we 
had  adopted  for  sanitary  reasons,  —  when  a  slab- 
sided  individual  appeared  on  the  bank  and  ordered 
us  to  come  ashore  and  get  into  our  clothes  "mighty 
quick ! "  As  we  had  acquired  somewhat  of  the 
spirit  of  the  characters  that  we  were  personating, 
we  recommended  him  to  retire  to  a  certain  place 
which  could  hardly  be  considered  a  desirable  locality 
in  which  to  spend  a  summer  outing.  As  he  con 
tinued  to  annoy  us  by  his  ranting,  we,  being  two, 
assailed  him  with  volleys  of  wet  stones,  driving  him 
from  the  vicinity  of  our  clothes. 


HIRED   AGAIN  2/1 

We  came  out  then  and  dressed  ourselves  just  in 
time  to  fall  victims  to  our  late  tormentor  and  two 
other  pumpkin-huskers  that  he  had  recruited  from 
somewhere.  We  asked  why  we  were  arrested,  and 
he  told  us  that  we  would  find  out  soon  enough, 
advising  us  solemnly  that  anything  that  we  might 
say  would  be  used  against  us. 

As  our  captors  were  ostentatiously  armed  with 
bludgeons  of  green  birch  while  we  had  nothing, 
we  concluded  that  discretion  was  the  better  part  of 
valor,  and  went  with  them  as  meekly  as  we  could 
to  a  considerable  town  some  three  miles  farther  on, 
where  we  were  run  into  a  lock-up,  and  kept  until  the 
next  day  on  a  diet  of  tepid  water.  We  were  then 
arraigned  before  some  kind  of  an  official,  charged 
with  vagrancy,  disturbing  the  peace,  and  resisting 
an  officer  in  the  discharge  of  his  duty. 

We  were  found  guilty  on  all  three  counts  of  the 
indictment,  and  sentenced  to  ten  days  in  jail, — a 
mild  punishment  when  you  consider  the  heinous- 
ness  of  the  crime. 

We  got  a  good  and  much-needed  rest  in  the  little 
jail.  We  were  well  fed,  and  required  only  to  keep 
our  premises  clean  and  in  order,  so  that  really  it 
was  more  an  act  of  charity  than  of  discipline ;  but 
the  feeling  that  we  had  now  received  the  highest 
degree  in  trampdom  was  not  exhilarating,  though 
even  from  this  condition  light-hearted  Frank  drew 
a  grain  of  comfort ;  for  he  said  that,  having  reached 
the  very  bottom  of  the  ladder,  our  next  change 


2/2  THE  GENERAL  MANAGER'S  STORY 

must  be  for  the  better.  For  my  part,  I  could  see 
no  assurance  that  there  was  to  be  any  change ;  I 
was  under  the  impression  that  tramps  regularly 
alternated  between  begging,  stealing,  and  jailing. 
However,  Frank  was  nearer  right  than  either  of  us 
would  have  believed  at  the  time.  When  our  term 
expired,  we  were  once  more  turned  loose  to  prey 
upon  the  barnyards  of  the  natives,  but  with  a  severe 
admonition  to  get  out  of  town  as  fast  as  we  knew 
how,  or  we  might  expect  another  and  longer  term 
of  entertainment  at  the  county's  expense. 

With  this  dire  threat  ringing  in  our  ears,  we  pro 
ceeded  to  the  outskirts  of  the  place,  and  lay  in  wait 
near  a  convenient  water-plug  all  day.  In  the  evening 
we  boarded  an  east-bound  freight,  and  after  sleeping 
soundly  all  night,  awoke  to  find  ourselves  stationary 
in  a  small  siding.  A  few  moments'  observation 
showed  that  we  had  been  riding  in  a  hay-car,  and 
it  had  been  left  here  near  a  cross-road  for  the  con 
venience  of  the  neighboring  farmers,  who  probably 
had  hay  to  ship.  Thinking  that  we  might  find  work 
here,  as  from  what  we  could  see  of  the  country  and 
buildings  it  appeared  to  be  a  land  of  well-to-do 
people,  we  started  off  down  the  cross-road,  and 
after  catching,  cooking,  and  eating  a  hearty  break 
fast,  we  applied  for  employment  to  a  well-dressed 
old  gentleman  whom  we  met  riding  a  handsome 
horse. 

"What  can  you  do?"  said  he,  stopping  and  look 
ing  at  us  with  an  interest  so  new  to  us,  that  it  caused 


HIRED  AGAIN  273 

us  no  little  apprehension.  Scenting  a  job,  we  both 
together  answered  eagerly,  "  Anything." 

"  Well,  but  I  mean,  what  have  you  done  ?  have 
you  any  trade,  or  calling  ?  is  there  any  one  thing  that 
you  can  do  better  than  another  ? " 

We  told  him  that  we  had  no  trade. 

"Oh,  I  see,"  said  he,  with  a  rather  supercilious 
smile,  "just  common  tramps!" 

The  expression,  and  the  way  in  which  he  said  it 
cut  me,  and  I  answered,  "  No,  sir,  we  are  not  com 
mon  tramps ;  we  never  tramped  until  this  summer, 
and  wouldn't  now  if  we  could  get  anything  to  do. 
We're  railroad  men  out  of  a  job." 

"If  you're  railroad  men,  why  don't  you  go  over 
back  here  where  they're  building  that  new  road?  I 
understand  that  the  contractor  wants  all  the  help  he 
can  get." 

"Where  ? "  said  we  both,  in  a  breath.  He  directed 
us,  and  off  we  went  in  hot  haste,  elated  at  the  pros 
pect  of  employment.  Within  half  a  mile  from  where 
we  met  the  old  gentleman  we  came  upon  a  busy 
scene.  They  were  building  the  roadbed  of  a  double- 
track  railroad,  and  in  order  to  conciliate  the  resi 
dents,  employment  was  given  to  all  the  men,  boys, 
and  draught  animals  who  applied.  There  were 
horses,  mules,  and  oxen,  hauling  dirt  and  stone  in 
all  manner  of  vehicles.  Besides  the  native  contin 
gent,  there  were  gangs  of  Italians,  Swedes,  and  Ger 
mans,  shovelling  away  for  dear  life,  each  gang 
presided  over  by  an  Irish  foreman,  who  yelled  at 


2/4  THE   GENERAL   MANAGER'S   STORY 

the  laborers  continually,  while  a  big,  black-whiskered 
man  with  a  red  face  —  the  contractor  —  yelled  at  the 
foremen  in  turn.  He  saw  us  almost  as  soon  as  we 
did  him,  and  beckoning  to  us,  roared  out,  "  What  in 
h —  are  you  fellers  loafin'  round  for?  Want  a  job  ?  " 

"  Yes,  sir." 

"  Hey,  Mike !  here's  two  good  men  fer  ye ;  give 
'em  a  couple  of  shovels  an'  let  'em  git  at  that  bank." 

Hired  at  last,  thank  the  Lord !  Here  was  work 
enough  for  months.  It  was  hard  work  in  the  blaz 
ing  hot  sun ;  our  backs  ached,  and  our  hands  were 
terribly  blistered.  Mike,  our  foreman,  was  a  driver, 
whom  nobody  could  do  enough  to  suit ;  he  was 
abusive  too,  but  we  didn't  care,  it  was  work.  There 
were  wages  and  meals  and  shelter  attached  to  it,  and 
that  was  what  we  were  after.  I  never  felt  so  proud 
as  I  did  when  I  quit  at  six  o'clock  that  night,  and 
took  my  place  at  the  long  board  table  in  the  shanty 
to  help  eat  the  bountiful  supper  that  contractor 
Gallagher  furnished  us.  I  was  tired  to  death  ;  every 
bone  in  me  ached;  but  I  had  an  appetite  like  an 
ostrich,  and  I  was  no  longer  a  tramp.  It  was  re 
freshing  to  hear  the  men  talk.  We  were  put  into 
a  gang  of  Swedes  who  could  all  talk  English,  and 
their  conversation  was  not  of  tramping ;  for  they  had 
never  been  tramps,  never  expected  to  be,  and,  in  fact, 
didn't  seem  to  know  that  such  people  existed ;  and 
Frank  and  I  took  precious  good  care  not  to  introduce 
the  subject. 

We  learned  that  the  pay  was  a  dollar  a  day  and 


HIRED  AGAIN 

board.  It  seemed  as  if  a  diamond  mine  had  opened 
at  our  feet ;  we  began  to  build  castles  at  once,  —  what 
could  we  not  buy  in  a  few  months  at  that  rate  ?  A 
vista  of  wealth  opened  before  us  such  as  we  had 
never  dreamed  of  before.  A  dollar  a  day  and  board, 
nothing  to  pay  out  of  our  wages,  only  once  in  a  while 
a  suit  of  overclothes  to  work  in !  We  marvelled  at 
the  contractor's  liberality. 

For  two  months  we  slaved  under  Mike  Callahan's 
tyrannical  rule ;  the  road  was  pushed  rapidly  along 
through  the  nearly  level  farm  land,  and  we  were  a 
long  way  from  the  place  where  we  had  been  hired. 
We  two  were  so  overjoyed  to  be  at  work  again,  that 
we  labored  with  a  will.  Occasionally,  we  had  an 
opportunity  to  display  our  mechanical  knowledge  and 
skill,  so  that  Mr.  Callahan  had  come  to  depend  on  us 
when  any  unhandy  or  difficult  job  confronted  him ; 
therefore,  when  Mr.  Gallagher  rode  up  in  his  buggy 
one  day  and  told  Mike  to  send  his  two  best  men 
down  to  the  village  in  the  morning  with  their  "  kits," 
we  were  chosen. 

Here  we  found  half  a  dozen  others,  who  had  been 
drafted  from  the  various  gangs,  and  we  learned  that 
we  were  to  go  back  down  the  road  and  assist  in 
track-laying. 

It  was  a  little  higher  grade  of  work,  so  our  pay  was 
raised  twenty-five  cents  per  day  —  more  wealth ! 

As  fast  as  we  got  the  ties  and  rails  spiked,  a  little 
old  locomotive  hauled  the  flat  cars  on  to  them ;  the 
men  shovelled  the  gravel  off,  the  roadbed  was  graded, 


276      THE  GENERAL  MANAGER'S  STORY 

and  the  ties  tamped.  When  we  first  went  down 
there,  the  engine  hauled  eight  or  ten  loaded  cars, 
but  gradually  the  engineer  —  a  young  fellow  eigh 
teen  or  twenty  years  of  age  —  began  to  kick.  He 
said  that  the  engine  was  overloaded,  —  and  so  she 
was,  —  and  he  wanted  a  fireman.  Gallagher  said  the 
engine  had  always  hauled  twelve  cars  before,  and  he 
didn't  believe  that  the  engineer  knew  his  business. 
As  for  a  fireman,  he'd  see  him  d — d  first.  Nearly 
every  day  Gallagher  came  to  the  job  and  had  a  row 
with  the  engineer,  while  the  engine  was  getting 
worse  and  worse ;  until,  at  last,  she  stalled  dead  with 
eight  cars,  on  a  little  knoll,  with  Gallagher  looking 
right  at  her. 

He  was  furious ;  he  jumped  on  the  engine,  and 
hauled  the  young  engineer  out  of  the  cab,  kicked 
and  beat  him  unmercifully ;  and  finally  told  him  that 
if  he  didn't  clear  out  he  would  have  him  locked  up. 
The  young  fellow  wiped  the  blood  and  dirt  from  his 
face  and  demanded  his  money.  At  this,  Gallagher 
had  another  fit,  but  contented  himself  with  cursing 
the  man,  and  telling  him  how  much  unnecessary 
expense  he  had  put  him  to  by  reason  of  his  incom- 
petency.  "And  now,"  said  Gallagher,  " where 
in  h —  am  I  to  get  an  engineer?  Here  'tis  three 
o'clock,  Saturday;  I'll  have  to  lose  the  rest  of  this 
day,  anyhow,  and  will  be  mighty  lucky  if  I'm  able  to 
work  Monday;  for  even  if  I  get  a  man,  I  suppose 
you've  hoodooed  the  engine  so  that  she  won't  be  good 
for  nothin'." 


HIRED  AGAIN 

After  having  relieved  himself  somewhat,  he  paid 
the  man  off,  to  get  rid  of  him ;  and,  as  he  was  step 
ping  into  his  buggy,  I  walked  up  to  him,  and  said, 
"  Mr.  Gallagher,  if  you  want  an  engineer,  I'd  like  to 
have  the  job." 

He  was  interested  at  once.  "Are  you  an  engi 
neer?"  said  he. 

"Yes,  sir;"  said  I.  "Both  my  friend  and  myself 
are  locomotive  engineers  of  several  years'  experi 
ence." 

"  By  G— d,  I  believe  it ;  you  look  like  it.  Why 
didn't  you  say  so  long  ago  ?  That  d — d  fool  has  had 
the  life  worried  out  of  me.  Well,  now,  I'll  tell  you 
what  you  do :  it's  no  use  starting  up  again,  now  the 
men  are  all  knocked  off;  but  you  look  that  engine 
over,  get  acquainted  with  her,  run  her  up  and  down 
the  track  here,  if  you  like,  this  afternoon,  and  be 
ready  to  start  to  work  Monday  morning." 

"  Didn't  you  say  that  she  used  to  haul  twelve  cars  ? " 

"  Yes ;  an'  she  did,  too." 

"Well,  if  you'll  give  me  what  I  want,  I'll  guar 
antee  to  haul  them,  every  day  I  work  here,  up  any 
grade  that  I  have  seen  on  the  road,  so  far." 

"What  do  you  want?" 

"  I  want  four  men,  besides  myself,  to  work  on  that 
engine  all  day  to-morrow,  and  I  want  a  fireman ;  I 
won't  run  without  a  fireman." 

"Want  a  job  for  that  red-headed  fellow,  hey  ?" 

"  Yes,  sir." 

"Well,  all  right.     Now  I'll  tell  you  what  I'll  do. 


278  THE  GENERAL  MANAGER'S   STORY 

You  tell  Mullins  to  give  you  all  the  men  you  want, 
and  pick  them  out  yourself.  Use  everything  you  can 
get  hold  of  round  here,  and  put  that  engine  in  the 
best  shape  you  can.  Then  if  you  can  take  twelve 
loads  up  Apple  Tree  grade  Monday  morning,  I'll  give 
you  seventy-five  dollars  a  month,  and  give  Red-head 
fifty  to  fire  for  you ;  but  if  you  don't  take  but  ten, 
I'll  only  give  you  fifty  dollars,  and  Red-head  stays  in 
the  gang.  What  do  you  say  to  that  ?  " 

"  I  say  all  right,"  said  I.  "  I'm  perfectly  satisfied." 
I  got  my  four  men  from  Mullins,  the  foreman,  and 
went  at  her  at  once.  First,  I  took  her  down  to  a 
piece  of  straight  track.  Frank  and  I  uncapped  the 
steam-chests,  and  while  the  other  two  fellows  pinched 
her  for  us,  we  set  the  valves  a  blamed  sight  nearer 
than  they  were  before  —  they  needed  facing  badly, 
.but  we  had  neither  time  nor  tools.  Then  we  took 
the  cylinder-heads  off,  and  set  the  packing-rings  out 
so  that  they  would  touch  the  cylinders  once  in  a 
while,  anyhow ;  and  then  it  was  time  to  knock  off 
for  supper. 

The  next  day  we  washed  out  the  boiler,  bored  the 
tubes,  repaired  the  arch  and  grate  bars  as  well  as  we 
could,  with  what  we  could  pick  up  around  the  place, 
and  also  opened  the  front  end,  cleaned  out  the  noz 
zles  and  spark-netting,  squared  the  diaphragm,  set 
it  where  we  thought  it  would  be  about  right,  picked 
up  the  blower-pipe  which  was  lying  there  loose,  and 
connected  it,  cut  off  an  extra  two  feet  that  my  prede 
cessor  had  added  to  the  stack  in  the  vain  effort  to 


HIRED   AGAIN 

make  her  steam,  and  having  filled  the  boiler,  we  set 
our  two  helpers  at  work  firing  up,  while  Frank  and 
I  amused  ourselves  taking  up  lost  motion. 

Having  got  steam,  Frank  banked  the  fire.  I 
wouldn't  move  her  until  Monday  morning.  Mr. 
Gallagher  was  on  hand  bright  and  early,  but  he 
never  came  near  the  engine,  or  even  looked  at  her. 
Frank  pulled  the  fire  down  while  I  oiled,  and  I  told 
him  to  notify  me  quietly  when  he  was  ready. 

We  backed  up,  and  I  told  the  men  to  couple  on 
sixteen  cars.  The  fellow  who  acted  as  a  sort  of  con 
ductor  laughed  at  me ;  but  I  insisted,  and  she  walked 
them  up  to  the  top  of  Apple  Tree  grade  like  a  lady 
—  blowing  off  the  instant  that  I  closed  the  throttle. 
I  managed  to  steal  a  glance  at  Gallagher,  and  saw 
him  turn  with  a  grin  and  say  something  to  the  fore 
man,  but  he  never  came  near  the  engine.  He  stayed 
round  there  for  an  hour  or  so,  and  then  climbed  into 
his  buggy  and  rode  off. 

It  was  a  week  before  I  had  an  opportunity  to 
speak  to  him,  then  he  came  up  to  the  engine  and 
asked  how  I  was  making  out.  I  told  him  all  right ; 
and  he  said  that  he  was  satisfied  if  I  was. 

I  ran  and  Frank  fired  the  engine  for  Gallagher 
for  four  months.  It  was  hard,  dirty  work,  for  it  was 
our  normal  condition  to  be  off  the  track.  There  was 
a  great  deal  of  rain  that  season  and  the  sand-pit 
track  was  forever  sliding  from  under  us,  to  say  noth 
ing  of  the  soft  fills  that  we  built  out  on  the  road, 
and  then  tried  to  haul  heavily  loaded  gravel  trains 


28O  THE  GENERAL  MANAGER'S   STORY 

over.  The  natural  consequence  was  that  we  spent 
most  of  our  time  on  our  backs  in  the  mud,  blocking 
up  wheels  and  tracks.  Then  after  the  day's  work 
of  twelve  or  fourteen  hours  was  done,  we  had  our 
engine  to  take  care  of,  and  in  the  morning  we  had 
to  be  at  work  at  least  an  hour  before  the  rest,  so 
as  to  be  ready.  However,  we  were  happy,  and  as  we 
had  no  chance  to  spend  our  money,  we  accepted  the 
offer  of  Mr.  Gallagher  to  leave  it  in  his  hands,  for 
which  he  agreed  to  pay  us  six  per  cent  interest. 
We  became  so  stingy  that  we  cut  our  living  ex 
penses  down  to  the  last  possible  cent,  for  we  wished 
to  have  a  good  stake  when  the  job  was  done,  one 
experience  of  tramping  being  enough. 


CHAPTER  XVIII 

BUNCOED    BY    GALLAGHER  —  AN    OLD    FRIEND   TO   THE 

RESCUE  PRACTICAL      RAILROAD      KNOWLEDGE  — 

BUILDING   UP    A    ROAD  —  A    SUNDAY-SCHOOL   EXCUR 
SION  DISASTER  —  I     LOSE     MY     NERVE BECOME 

CONDUCTOR  —  A    DRUNKEN    ENGINEER 

AFTER  about  four  months  of  this  kind  of  thing, 
Mullins  came  to  the  engine  one  morning  and  told 
us  that  he  should  not  want  her  that  day ;  he  said 
that  we  might  have  a  holiday.  I  asked  him  why, 
but  he  merely  shrugged  his  shoulders  and  walked  off. 

Frank  banked  his  fire,  and  we  returned  to  the 
shanty,  where  we  found  the  men  standing  about  in 
groups,  smoking  their  pipes  and  speculating  on  the 
cause  of  the  stoppage  of  the  work.  Some  of  them, 
old  railroad-builders,  didn't  hesitate  to  say  openly 
that  Gallagher  had  "busted  up,"  or  "was  playing  a 
sharp  trick." 

The  latter  proved  to  be  the  case,  for  we  never  saw 
him  again,  nor  a  cent  of  the  four  months'  pay  for 
which  we  had  worked  so  hard.  It  was  very  discourag 
ing.  We  didn't  know  what  to  do.  We  had  no 
money,  and  were  worse  off  for  clothes  than  we  had 
been  when  tramping,  for  all  we  had  now  were  the 
dirty,  ragged  overalls  in  which  we  worked.  Three 

281 


282  THE  GENERAL   MANAGER'S   STORY 

days  we  hung  around  waiting  for  something  to  turn 
up,  for  all  sorts  of  rumors  were  afloat.  We  heard 
that  Gallagher  had  committed  suicide,  that  he  was 
in  jail,  and  that  he  was  coming  back  to  pay  all  hands 
and  start  up  the  work  again  ;  the  truth  being  that  he 
had  collared  all  the  money  he  could  lay  his  hands  on 
and  gone  to  Europe. 

As  it  was  agreed  that  somebody  would  have  to 
finish  the  road,  we  decided  —  partly  because  we  could 
not  do  otherwise — to  wait  developments,  and  try  and 
get  employment  with  the  new  man,  resolving,  how 
ever,  never  again  to  leave  our  wages  in  our  employer's 
hands  any  longer  than  we  were  absolutely  obliged  to. 
Now  that  so  many  of  us  had  been  swindled  out  of 
our  money,  it  occurred  simultaneously  to  everybody 
that  we  might  have  known  that  there  was  something 
wrong  when  a  big  contractor  like  Gallagher  borrowed 
money  from  his  employees. 

On  the  fourth  morning  after  the  collapse,  a  man 
mailed  a  notice  on  the  side  of  the  shanty,  notifying 
all  the  late  employees  of  the  contractor  who  wished 

to  enter  the  employ  of  the R.  R.  Co.,  to  report 

at  10  A.M.  to  Mr. in  the  hotel  at  the  village. 

This  Mr. proved  to  be  our  old  general  manager 

in  Chicago,  the  kindly,  genial  old  gentleman  who  was 
displaced  when  the  new,  hungry,  bean-eating,  down- 
east  president  got  control  of  the  road.  He  knew 
Frank  and  me  at  once,  and  said  he  was  pleased  to 
meet  us.  After  making  arrangements  to  have  the 
work  started  up  again  immediately,  he  told  us  that 


I   LOSE  MY  NERVE  283 

the  company  owning  the  road  had  decided  to  finish 
it  themselves ;  he  said  that  he  had  been  sent  to 
superintend  the  construction,  with  orders  to  hire  as 
many  of  the  contractor's  men  as  chose  to  work  for 
the  company,  with  the  understanding  that  the  rail 
road  company  would  not  be  accountable  for  any 
wages  due  the  men  from  the  contractor. 

He  told  Frank  and  me  that  he  believed  it  was 
going  to  be  a  good  road.  He  said  they  had  millions 
of  English  capital  behind  them,  and  that  his  orders 
were,  to  have  all  the  work  done  in  a  strictly  first- 
class  manner,  no  skimping  on  account  of  expense. 
He  said  that  he  had  been  appointed  superintendent 
of  construction,  and  would  undoubtedly  be  superin 
tendent  of  the  road  when  completed ;  and  he  prom 
ised  us  that  if  we  chose  to  stay  with  him  he  would 
see  that  we  were  properly  taken  care  of.  All  of 
which  you  may  be  sure  raised  our  spirits  from  the 
slough  of  despond  to  the  seventh  heaven  of  delight ; 
for  of  permanent  employment  we  had  never  dreamed 
while  working  for  Gallagher,  so  that  in  reality  his 
absconding  with  our  four  months'  pay  turned  out  to 
be  a  blessing  in  disguise.  Frank  improved  the  oppor 
tunity  to  remind  me  that  he  had  predicted  when  we 
were  in  jail,  that  our  next  change  would  be  for  the 
better,  and  I  was  obliged  to  admit  that  it  had  indeed 
been  the  turning-point  in  our  fortunes,  for  they  had 
steadily  improved  from  that  day. 

We  now  saw  the  practical  side  of  Mr. 's  rail 
road  knowledge.  In  Chicago  we  had  known  him 


284  THE  GENERAL  MANAGER'S  STORY 

only  as  the  gentlemanly  general  manager,  seated  in 
his  luxurious  office,  and  surrounded  by  obsequious 
clerks  and  stenographers. 

Now  we  saw  him,  although  a  man  over  sixty  years 
of  age,  equipped  in  long  boots  and  rubber  coat, 
floundering  round  in  the  mud ;  lugging  ties,  blocks 
or  heavy  wire  switch  ropes,  and  helping  both  by  his 
knowledge  and  manual  labor,  to  put  cars  and  engine 
on  the  track. 

He  worked  earlier  and  later  than  any  other  man 
on  the  job,  and  introduced  new  methods  whereby  the 
work  was  greatly  expedited.  Inside  of  a  week  he 
had  a  steam  shovel  at  work  in  the  gravel  pit,  and 
plough  cars  on  the  road.  Within  a  month  two  brand- 
new  passenger  locomotives  with  the  name  of  the 
road  in  gold  letters  on  their  tenders  arrived,  and 
Frank  and  I  each  took  one,  while  our  old  engine  was 
given  to  another  man. 

Mr. rode  with  me  a  great  deal  on  the  engine, 

and  I  learned  to  know  him  well,  and  to  admire  him 
sincerely.  He  told  me  that  the  incitement  of  the 
strike,  and  subsequent  wrecking  of  the  road  in 
Chicago,  was  a  stock-jobbing  scheme  inaugurated  by 
the  eastern  syndicate  which  had  secured  control,  and 
against  whom  he  had  fought  as  long  as  he  could,  but 
when  they  finally  got  control  of  enough  shares  of 
stock  to  elect  their  president,  he  didn't  wait  to  be 
kicked  out,  but  resigned. 

Under  the  new  management  the  road  grew  like  a 
weed.  The  first  division  was  opened  for  passenger 


I  LOSE  MY  NERVE  285 

traffic  the  next  summer,  and  with  my  engine  newly 
painted,  and  engine  and  train  gayly  decorated  with 
flags,  I  had  the  pleasure  of  earning  the  first  dollar 
for  the  company;  which  hangs  in  a  gold  frame  in  the 
president's  private  office  to  this  day. 

The  road  was  a  success  from  its  inception ;  it  be 
came  at  once  a  favorite  passenger  route  to  the  west, 
on  account  of  its  palatial  cars,  fine  roadbed,  mag 
nificent  scenery,  and  faultless  service.  I,  being  the 
senior  engineer,  chose  the  Chicago  limited  for  my 
train,  and  Frank  being  second,  took  the  other  side  of 
it,  so  that  we  were  still  closely  connected ;  running 
the  same  engine  on  alternate  days.  It  now  seemed 
as  if  our  troubles  were  indeed  over.  We  had  the 
most  desirable  train  on  a  trunk  line  railroad,  were 
intimate  personal  friends  of  the  general  superintend 
ent,  and  our  lines  were  indeed  fallen  in  pleasant 
places. 

Being  prosperous,  and  no  longer  boys,  we  looked 
about  among  the  numerous,  handsome,  and  eligible 
young  ladies  of  our  acquaintance,  and  soon  dis 
covered  that  there  was  a  certain  one  peculiarly 
adapted  to  each  of  us,  and  the  natural  consequence 
of  this  discovery  was  that  we  were  both  married 
within  three  months  of  each  other.  We  bought 
adjoining  lots,  and  erected  handsome  houses ;  each  in 
every  respect  the  duplicate  of  the  other.  Fortu 
nately  our  wives  had  been  life-long  friends  before 
their  marriage,  so  that  the  most  perfect  harmony 
existed  between  the  two  families. 


286  THE  GENERAL  MANAGER'S  STORY 

Three  years  after  my  marriage,  having  completed 
the  payments  on  my  house,  I  felt  that  I  was  entitled 
to  a  holiday ;  and  as  I  had  not  heard  from  home  for 
a  number  of  years,  I  obtained  ten  days'  leave  of 
absence,  and  with  my  wife  and  boy  revisited  the 
scenes  of  my  childhood. 

Coal  and  iron  having  been  discovered  in  the  neigh 
borhood,  blast  furnaces  had  been  established,  and 
that  which  I  had  left  a  quiet,  peaceful  country  village, 
had  become  a  grimy,  smoky,  thriving  town. 

I  learned  that  my  father  had  been  dead  seven 
years ;  my  sisters  were  married,  the  elder  having 
gone  with  her  husband  to  California;  while  the 
younger  was  the  wife  of  the  superintendent  of  a  large 
steel  mill,  recently  erected  in  a  neighboring  town, 
which  had  grown  up  since  I  left  home,  on  the  site  of 
a  sheep  pasture.  Mother  was  living  in  the  old  home 
stead,  hale  and  hearty,  and  was  delighted  to  see  her 
boy,  as  she  called  me,  once  more.  She  took  to  my 
wife  right  away,  and  my  boy  would  have  owned  her 
body  and  soul  in  another  week.  But  the  railroad 
man  is  as  much  a  slave  to  duty  as  is  the  soldier,  and 
so  my  leave  having  expired,  we  regretfully  bade  the 
dear  old  mother  adieu,  after  exacting  a  promise  that 
she  should  come  to  us  at  Thanksgiving  time,  and 
returned. 

Once  more  with  hand  on  throttle,  and  head  out  of 
window,  I  went  spinning  over  the  iron  on  old  32, 
the  most  faithful  engine  that  I  ever  knew.  We  both 
took  great  pride  and  comfort  in  her,  and  our  train 


I   LOSE  MY  NERVE  287 

was  of  sufficient  importance,  and  what  was  more  yet, 
our  acquaintance  with  the  general  superintendent 
was  so  intimate  and  so  well  known,  that  the  master 
mechanic  and  round-house  foreman  were  in  the 
habit  of  doing  pretty  nearly  all  the  work  that  either 
of  us  reported.  I  had  noticed  that  the  flanges  on 
the  leading  engine  truck  wheels  were  getting  worn 
pretty  thin  and  sharp,  and  had  spoken  to  the  fore 
man  about  turning  the  truck  round,  so  as  to  bring 
the  good  wheels  ahead.  He  had  promised  to  do  so, 
but  as  I  suppose  he  didn't  consider  it  a  matter  of 
immediate  importance,  he  let  it  go  a  week.  I  then 
asked  Frank  to  report  it,  and  he  told  me  that  he  had 
done  so  before  I  did.  I  let  it  run  for  another  week, 
and  then  as  I  didn't  consider  the  engine  to  be  quite 
safe  with  them,  I  told  the  foreman  that  I  should  have 
to  go  to  the  master  mechanic  about  it,  if  he  didn't 
attend  to  it  right  away. 

"  All  right,"  said  he,  "  I'll  surely  do  it  next  trip  in. 
I've  been  so  busy  for  the  last  couple  of  weeks  that  I 
couldn't  possibly  spare  a  man  a  minute  for  any 
purpose." 

"Very  well,"  said  I ;  "  I'll  take  her  out  this  trip  ; 
but  I  won't  take  her  out  again  until  that  truck's 
turned  round  ;  'tain't  safe." 

A  heavy  Sunday-school  excursion  train  left  half  an 
hour  ahead  of  me.  As  she  was  an  extra,  I  had  no 
occasion  to  look  out  for  her ;  it  was  her  business  to 
keep  out  of  my  way.  They  had  ten  cars,  every  seat 
filled,  mostly  women  and  children.  The  ferry  boat 


288  THE  GENERAL  MANAGER'S   STORY 

was  ten  minutes  late,  and  as  our  time  had  been 
shortened  up  fifteen  minutes  on  the  last  time  table, 
I  knew  I  would  have  hard  work  to  get  in  on  time. 
So  as  soon  as  I  got  clear  of  the  yard  I  let  the  old 
girl  go  for  all  there  was  in  her,  working  all  the  fine 
points  known  to  engineers  to  get  every  ounce  of 
speed  out  of  her,  and  yet  keep  her  in  steam,  fire,  and 
water.  Eight  miles  out  there  was  a  low  ridge  over 
which  the  road  ran ;  it  was  a  short,  rather  steep 
grade  up,  and  then  a  long  gentle  sweep  down  for 
about  two  miles,  around  a  curve,  and  then  fairly 
level  running  ground  for  the  next  twenty-five  miles. 
When  she  pitched  over  the  top  of  the  knoll,  I  started 
down  the  long  grade  at  a  good  gait,  for  here  was  my 
chance  to  get  a  swing  on  to  carry  me  over  the  long 
level  stretch  beyond  the  curve. 

As  she  gathered  headway,  I  hooked  her  back  a 
notch  at  a  time,  until  she  was  flying  like  a  comet. 
The  cars  rolled  like  logs  in  a  lake,  and  as  I  glanced 
back,  the  last  two  were  entirely  obscured  by  the  dense 
cloud  of  dust  that  we  tore  up  from  the  track  as  we 
sped  along.  She  was  going  sixty-five  miles  per  hour 
if  she  was  an  inch.  The  sensation  was  exhilarating. 
I  know  of  nothing  that  will  fill  a  man  with  such  a 
sense  of  joyful  mastery  as  to  sit  at  the  head  of  a  fast- 
flying  train,  a  record-breaking  train,  and  realize  that 
it  is  his  work,  that  there  is  no  higher  authority  than 
himself  here ;  the  superintendent,  general  manager, 
and  president  are  left  behind,  and  he  alone  is  boss 
and  king.  As  I  approached  the  curve  I  could  see 


I  LOSE  MY  NERVE  289 

that  the  excursion  train  was  in  the  switch  just  beyond, 
waiting  for  me.  I  blew  a  crossing  signal  to  let  them 
know  that  I  was  coming,  because  excursionists  have 
a  great  habit  of  getting  off  and  spreading  themselves 
all  over  creation  every  time  their  train  stops,  and  I 
didn't  wish  to  kill  any  of  them.  I  fancied  I  could 
hear  the  women  and  children  utter  little  frightened 
screeches  as  we  flew  by  them. 

It  was  a  long,  easy  curve,  and  yet  the  speed  was 
such  that  she  struck  it  as  solidly  as  if  it  had  been  a 
brick  wall ;  she  tossed  her  head  round  for  an  instant, 
and  then  plunged  straight  into  the  side  of  that  ten- 
car  train  crammed  full  of  happy  women  and  children. 

The  flange  of  the  leading  wheel  on  the  engine 
truck  had  broken,  and  allowed  the  engine  to  leave 
the  track.  Naturally,  as  she  tore  the  rails  from  the 
ties  in  her  mad  flight,  the  whole  train  followed  her. 
The  engine  crashed  diagonally  through  four  cars, 
smashing  them  as  effectually  as  you  could  smash  the 
same  number  of  eggs  with  an  axe.  The  cars  follow 
ing,  rammed,  telescoped,  and  climbed  over  the  others. 
When  the  engine  stopped,  she  lay  on  her  left  side 
beyond  the  siding.  The  cab  was  gone,  the  fireman 
was  gone,  but  on  my  side  of  the  run-board  —  at  my 
very  feet  —  lay  the  bodies  of  three  little  girls. 

I  tried  to  get  up,  but  found  that  my  right  leg  was 
held  fast  by  one  of  the  cab  braces  that  had  bent  over 
and  jammed  it.  The  sounds  that  came  from  the 
wreck  were  appalling,  — yells  and  groans  in  the  shrill 
voices  of  women  and  children,  with  occasionally  a 


2QO  THE  GENERAL   MANAGER'S   STORY 

deeper  tone,  showing  where  a  man  was.  I  did  not 
know  at  first  that  I  was  hurt  at  all,  but  now  my 
imprisoned  leg  began  to  pain  me,  then  I  felt  a  suffo 
cating  sensation  within,  as  if  a  blood-vessel  had  been 
ruptured,  and  I  was  being  drowned  out  with  my  own 
blood.  My  eyes  became  dim,  my  head  swam,  and  I 
saw  horrible  sights. 

To  this  day  I  don't  know  how  much  I  saw  and 
how  much  I  imagined  in  the  delirium  that  came  over 
me. 

The  next  thing  that  I  knew  I  was  in  hospital,  a 
"sister "  bathing  my  forehead  with  cool  water.  I 
tried  to  ask  where  I  was,  but  she  told  me  to  be  quiet. 
It  was  a  week  before  my  wife  was  allowed  to  see  me ; 
she  told  me  that  over  two  hundred  people  on  both 
trains  had  been  killed  outright,  and  many  more  than 
that  injured. 

When  the  wrecking-train  was  called,  the  round 
house  foreman,  who  was  called  to  go  with  it,  dis 
appeared,  leaving  his  job  and  family  behind  ;  and 
although  we  heard  occasional  rumors  of  his  having 
been  seen  in  various  parts  of  the  country,  he  never 
came  back,  and  I  do  not  think  that  his  family  ever 
heard  from  him  afterwards. 

As  soon  as  I  was  able  to  be  moved,  the  inquest 
was  held.  I  told  what  I  knew,  which  was  little 
enough.  The  coroner  asked  me  if  I  didn't  know 
that  the  flanges  on  the  leading  wheels  of  the  engine 
truck  were  worn  dangerously  thin ;  and  I  told  him 
that  both  Frank  and  myself  had  reported  them  re- 


I  LOSE  MY  NERVE  29 1 

peatedly,  and  that  the  foreman  had  promised  me 
faithfully  to  turn  the  truck  round  on  my  return  from 
the  last  trip ;  but  as  we  had  neither  of  us  made  a 
written  report  of  the  matter,  and  as  the  foreman 
could  not  be  found,  the  company's  lawyers  objected 
to  the  admission  of  that  item  of  evidence,  and 
thereby  enabled  their  employers  to  squeak  out  of  a 
great  deal  of  the  responsibility,  with  which  they 
should  properly  have  been  charged. 

I  had  several  ribs  broken,  and  received  internal 
injuries  from  the  effects  of  which  I  have  never  fully 
recovered  to  this  day.  My  fireman  was  killed,  and 
his  body  completely  dismembered,  but  no  other  em 
ployee  on  our  train,  strange  to  say,  was  at  all 
severely  injured.  The  baggage-master  was  found 
buried  under  a  huge  pile  of  heavy  trunks,  which  had 
been  piled  to  the  roof  on  each  side  of  the  car ;  and 
although  the  car  rolled  over  on  its  side,  with  the 
exception  of  a  few  bruises  he  was  unhurt. 

I  was  exonerated  from  all  blame  both  by  the 
coroner  and  the  company,  and  ordered  to  report  for 
duty  as  soon  as  I  felt  able  to  do  so ;  but  though  I 
had  never  been  the  least  bit  squeamish  over  acci 
dents  before,  this  one  took  a  strong  hold  on  me. 
There  were  several  families  in  the  little  town  where 
I  lived  that  had  relatives  killed  and  maimed  in  the 
wreck ;  and  though  I  knew  that  I  was  not  legally 
responsible,  yet  the  thought  that  I  might  have  pre 
vented  it,  by  refusing  to  take  the  engine  out,  tor 
mented  me  so  that  I  could  hardly  sleep  nights.  My 


2Q2  THE  GENERAL  MANAGER'S  STORY 

appetite  failed,  and  I  became  thin,  weak,  and  nervous. 
Finally,  during  a  conversation  with  my  wife,  I  prom 
ised  her  never  to  touch  a  locomotive  throttle  again, 
and  with  one  exception  I  never  have.  I  had  a  talk 
with  the  general  superintendent,  and  he  tried  to 
laugh  me  out  of  my  resolution ;  but  rinding  that  I 
was  determined,  he  advised  me  to  take  a  month  or 
two  in  the  country  and  recuperate  my  nerves. 

This  I  did,  but  on  returning  home  I  found  that 
my  antipathy  to  the  road,  and  everything  pertaining 
to  it,  was  stronger  than  ever.  I  had  another  talk 
with  my  old  friend,  and  after  trying  in  vain  to  per 
suade  me  to  return  to  work,  he  finally  admitted  that 
I  would  probably  do  better  on  another  road  where 
there  would  be  nothing  to  remind  me  of  the  wreck. 
He  asked  me  if  I  would  like  to  go  west  again,  and  I 
told  him  that  it  was  what  I  intended  to  do. 

"  Well,"  said  he,  "  I  may  be  able  to  help  you  a  lit 
tle  ;  I  have  a  brother-in-law  who  is  general  manager 

of  the Railroad,  and  I  will  give  you  a  letter  to 

him ;  that  will  get  you  a  job."  And  he  did.  He  gave 
me  a  splendid  letter,  and  procured  the  indorsements 
of  the  president  and  general  manager.  Armed  with 
this  formidable  document,  I  bade  adieu  to  my  best 
of  chums,  Frank;  and  leaving  my  family  under  his 
care,  once  more  set  my  face  towards  the  setting  sun. 

On  my  arrival  in  St.  Louis,  I  presented  my  letter, 

and  was  cordially  received  by  General  Manager , 

who  asked  what  he  could  do  for  me  in  a  manner 
that  showed  that  he  meant  to  do  something.  I  told 


I  LOSE  MY  NERVE  293 

him  that  I  should  like  a  position  as  conductor,  if  he 
could  place  me.  He  thought  a  moment,  and  then 
said,  "  Passenger,  of  course  ? "  "  Preferably,  yes,  sir," 
said  I.  "Well,"  said  he,  "I  think  I  will  be  able  to 
fix  you  out  in  a  very  few  days ;  we  are  just  making 
out  a  new  time  table,  and  are  going  to  put  on  a  new 
through  train  ;  that  will  make  a  job  for  you.  In  the 
meantime,  perhaps  you  had  better  go  out  and  learn 
the  road  a  bit." 

To  this  I  assented ;  and  in  less  than  a  week  I 
was  a  full-fledged  passenger  conductor.  I  was  highly 
pleased  with  my  new  position.  The  pay  was  good, 
the  duties  were  light,  and  for  the  first  time  in  my 
life  I  had  an  absolutely  clean  job.  When  I  saw 
the  engineer,  with  his  more  or  less  greasy  over- 
clothes,  crawling  under  his  engine  to  try  a  wrench 
on  eccentric  bolts,  and  crawling  out  again  with  the 
sweat  pouring  down  his  face,  I  could  not  help  say 
ing  to  myself,  "What  a  fool  I  was  to  do  that  so 
many  years";  but  I  never  let  on  to  anybody  that 
I  had  ever  been  anything  but  a  conductor. 

The  life  was  uneventful,  and  therefore  pleasant. 
I  secured  a  cosy  cottage  within  easy  walking  dis 
tance  of  the  depot,  had  my  family  with  me  inside 
of  two  months,  and  everything  ran  along  quietly 
with  me  for  about  two  years.  Frank  had  sold  my 
house  in  the  east,  and  took  advantage  of  the  pre 
tence  of  settling  with  me  to  make  us  a  very  pleasant 
visit.  Before  his  vacation  expired,  he  received  a 
notice  that  he  had  been  appointed  division  master 


294  THE  GENERAL  MANAGER'S   STORY 

mechanic,  and  hurried  home  to  enter  upon  his  new 
duties. 

Shortly  after  this  I  was  called  on  my  day  off  to 
take  out  a  special,  —  a  frequent  occurrence,  as  the 
land  speculators  were  in  the  habit  of  giving  free 
excursions  occasionally  to  prospective  purchasers. 
It  was  a  hot  day ;  and  when  I  went  ahead  to  speak  to 
the  engineer  and  see  if  he  was  ready,  I  noticed  that 
he  looked  flushed  and  warm,  but  paid  no  attention, 
as  it  was  quite  natural  that  he  should  on  such  a 
day.  We  had  a  little  talk  concerning  the  trains 
and  where  we  had  better  sidetrack,  and  it  was 
agreed  that  we  would  not  be  able  to  make  more  than 
ten  miles  before  we  would  have  to  take  the  switch  for 
the  first  inward-bound  train.  When  the  passengers 
were  all  on,  I  gave  the  signal,  and  he  pulled  out  with 
a  jerk,  slipping  his  drivers  in  a  way  that  was  irri 
tating  to  an  old  engineer  like  myself.  Before  we 
were  clear  of  the  yard,  he  was  going  at  a  forty-mile 
gait,  and  the  cars  were  thumping  over  the  frogs  and 
switches  at  a  great  rate.  I  wondered  what  he  was 
going  so  fast  for,  because  we  had  plenty  of  time 
to  get  to  the  switch ;  and  there  was  no  possibility 
of  our  going  any  farther.  When  we  struck  out 
into  the  open  country,  the  speed  increased,  until 
I  remarked  to  the  baggage-master  that  the  engineer 
seemed  to  be  in  a  devil  of  a  hurry.  Although  I 
was  not  personally  acquainted  with  the  man,  I  knew 
that  he  was  a  regular  freight  runner,  and  should 
therefore  have  all  the  trains'  times  at  his  fingers' 


I  LOSE  MY  NERVE  295 

ends.  But  I  couldn't  help  watching  the  road  as  we 
flew  by,  and  wondering  what  he  was  running  so 
for.  I  looked  at  my  watch,  made  a  rapid  mental 
calculation,  and  decided  that  he  was  trying  for  the 
next  siding,  eight  miles  further  along.  If  he  kept 
up  the  gait  that  he  was  going,  —  and  it  was  an 
open  question  whether  he  could  or  not,  —  he  would 
reach  the  switch  five  minutes  before  the  opposing 
train  was  due,  which  was  not  time  enough ;  besides, 
a  thousand  and  one  things  might  happen  to  reduce 
his  speed.  And  if  the  steam  dropped  five  pounds, 
it  would  knock  him  out.  What  could  he  be  think 
ing  of,  I  wondered.  We  were  within  an  eighth  of 
a  mile  of  the  near  end  of  the  siding,  and  I  pulled 
the  bell ;  but  he  passed  the  switch  without  slacken 
ing  his  speed,  and  paid  not  the  slightest  attention 
to  my  signal.  I  stepped  into  the  smoker  and  pulled 
the  air-valve  wide  open  that  set  the  Westinghouse 
brakes,  and  brought  the  train  to  a  standstill  just  as 
the  last  car  cleared  the  switch.  I  told  the  rear  man 
to  open  the  switch,  so  that  we  could  back  in,  and 
jumped  down  on  the  ground  to  give  the  engineer 
the  signal.  As  I  came  in  sight  of  the  cab,  he  stuck 
his  head  out  of  the  window,  and  shouted  to  me,  in 
a  thick,  unsteady  voice,  which  explained  at  once 
what  the  trouble  was,  "  Say,  did  you  pull  the  air  on 

me  ?  you "    He  called  me  everything  but 

a  decent  white  man.  There  was  no  time  to  blarney 
with  him.  I  went  back  into  the  smoker  and  got  the 
ventilator  stick,  which  I  concealed  under  my  coat. 


296      THE  GENERAL  MANAGER'S  STORY 

I  then  told  the  head  brakeman  and  baggage-master 
that  the  engineer  was  drunk,  and  I  was  going  to 
take  charge  of  the  engine,  and  back  the  train  in ; 
and  I  told  the  brakeman  to  come  with  me,  and  look 
out  for  the  engineer  when  I  should  get  him  out  of 
the  cab ;  and  I  told  the  baggage-master  that  I  would 
blow  three  short  whistles  when  I  got  control  of  the 
engine,  in  case  I  found  that  I  was  unable  to  relieve 
the  brakes,  and  in  that  case  he  should  crawl  under 
the  cars  and  bleed  them  off.  I  saw  that  neither  of 
them  relished  the  jobs  that  I  had  set  them ;  and  I 
knew  that  by  many  of  the  men  I  was  regarded  as  an 
interloper  from  the  east,  so  there  was  a  chance 
that  they  might  be  more  than  willing  to  see  me 
stuck.  However,  this  was  a  time  for  action,  not 
words ;  so,  calling  to  the  brakeman  to  come  on,  I 
again  jumped  off,  on  the  left  side,  and,  shouting  to 
the  rear  man  to  go  back  with  his  flag,  I  ran  quickly 
ahead  to  the  engine,  where  I  could  hear  the  engineer 
vainly  attempting  to  release  the  brake,  and  cursing 
away  to  himself  and  the  fireman  as  I  stepped  lightly 
up  into  the  tender. 

It  is  one  of  the  unwritten  laws  of  railroading 
that  the  conductor's  authority  ceases  at  the  back 
end  of  the  tender,  and  nobody  had  ever  insisted  on 
the  rigid  recognition  of  that  law  more  firmly  than 
I  myself  when  I  ran  engines ;  so  that  I  had  every 
reason  to  expect  anything  but  a  pleasant  reception. 
As  I  got  up  on  the  left  side,  neither  of  them  saw 
me  at  first.  The  fireman  was  sitting  on  his  seat, 


"  He  nearly  squelched  the  breath  out  of  my  body."  — p.  297. 


I  LOSE  MY  NERVE  297 

watching  the  engineer  and  idly  ringing  the  bell, 
while  the  engineer  himself  was  just  in  the  act  of 
pulling  the  reverse  lever  over,  to  "take  the  slack," 
hoping,  no  doubt,  to  be  able  to  start  her  in  spite 
of  the  brakes. 

I  let  him  get  her  in  the  back  motion,  and  then 
seizing  him  by  both  shoulders,  I  settled  back  with 
all  my  might,  dragging  him  from  the  foot-board 
down  on  top  of  myself.  He  was  a  big,  fat  brute, 
and  nearly  squelched  the  breath  out  of  my  body 
as  he  fell  on  top  of  me,  the  wet  coal  splashing  from 
under  us,  as  when  a  barrel  is  dropped  into  the 
water.  It  cost  me  a  couple  of  minutes'  hard  strug 
gle  to  turn  him  over,  but,  having  done  so,  I  didn't 
hesitate  to  give  him  a  hearty  rap  with  the  venti 
lator  stick  which  quieted  him  at  once ;  then  I  looked 
for  my  valuable  assistant.  He  was  on  the  ground, 
looking  on.  "Get  out  ahead  there  and  flag,"  said 
I ;  and  away  he  went.  Then,  stepping  up  in  the 
cab,  I  found,  to  my  great  relief,  that  I  was  able 
to  let  the  brakes  off  from  there,  the  air-pump  hav 
ing  had  time  to  get  the  pressure  up  while  I  had 
been  arranging  matters  with  the  engineer;  so,  tell 
ing  the  fireman  to  get  off  and  close  the  switch 
after  me,  I  backed  the  train  in  and  called  my  head 
flag.  By  this  time,  the  engineer  showed  signs  of 
returning  consciousness ;  so  I  found  a  piece  of  bell- 
cord  in  the  tank-box,  and,  calling  on  the  baggage- 
master  and  brakeman,  we  tied  him  and  put  him 
in  the  baggage  car.  By  that  time  the  opposing 


298  THE  GENERAL   MANAGER'S   STORY 

train  had  passed,  and  I  started  the  train.  The  fire 
man,  who  was  not  any  too  sober,  here  interfered, 
saying  he  wouldn't  fire  for  "no  brass-bound  con 
ductor  ! "  My  blood  was  pretty  well  up  now,  so  I 
jumped  down  in  the  tank  and  argued  with  him 
for  about  three  minutes  in  a  manner  that  convinced 
him  that  his  easiest  way  was  to  do  whatever  the 
"brass-bound  conductor"  told  him  to. 

I  stopped  at  the  first  telegraph  office  and  sent 
back  for  an  engineer.  They  sent  me  one,  so  that 
I  only  had  to  run  the  engine  one  way;  but  I  was 
a  sight  for  gods  and  men  when  I  returned  to  the 
train.  My  coat  was  split  up  the  back,  and  one 
sleeve  torn  entirely  out.  I  was  drenched  from  head 
to  foot  in  the  inky  black  water  into  which  I  had 
fallen  in  the  tender;  and  had  a  bad  cut  in  the 
back  of  my  head,  from  which  the  blood  had  flowed 
copiously,  contributing  a  variety  to  the  otherwise 
sombre  uniformity  of  my  dirt. 

The  engineer  was,  of  course,  discharged ;  and  the 
head  brakeman,  for  having  failed  to  assist  me  in 
capturing  the  engine,  was  jacked  up  for  thirty  days. 
As  no  one  had  seen  the  scrap  between  the  fireman 
and  me,  and  as  he  turned  out  to  be  a  very  decent 
fellow  with  a  widowed  mother  to  support,  I  omitted 
making  any  report  against  him. 


CHAPTER    XIX 

CALLED    TO    THE    GENERAL    MANAGER'S    OFFICE  —  IN 

CHARGE      OF      A      BRANCH  PUTTING      THINGS      IN 

ORDER FIVE  YEARS*  HARD  WORK BECOME  GEN 
ERAL  SUPERINTENDENT — ACCEPT  A  THIRD  VICE- 
PRESIDENCY  —  GENERAL  MANAGER  —  HANDLING  A 
BIG  STRIKE 

A  COUPLE  of  months  after  this,  I  was  called  to 
the  general  manager's  office,  and  he  asked  me  if 
I  was  a  telegrapher.  I  told  him  that  while  I  didn't 
pretend  to  be  an  operator,  yet  I  had  picked  up 
enough  of  the  art  to  be  able  to  receive  fairly  good 
business.  He  said  that  was  all  that  I  should  need, 
as  there  would  be  but  little  telegraphing  to  do 
where  I  was  going.  He  then  told  me  that  the 
company  had  purchased  a  short  road  —  about  sixty 
miles  long  —  connecting  with  another  trunk  line; 
and  that,  while  they  should  probably  run  some 
main-line  trains  over  it,  as  it  had  a  fairly  good 
business  of  its  own,  they  should  continue  to  oper 
ate  it  very  much  as  it  had  been  done  heretofore,  — 
with  its  own  motive  power  and  rolling  stock. 
"From  the  way  you  conducted  yourself  when  you 
found  that  you  had  a  drunken  engineer  on  the 
head  end  the  other  day,"  said  he,  "I  am  satisfied 

299 


3OO  THE  GENERAL  MANAGER'S   STORY 

that  you  are  a  man  who  can  successfully  cope  with 
sudden  and  unexpected  emergencies,  and  those  are 
just  the  kind  of  men  that  I  like  to  have  about  me. 

"  Now,  I  am  going  to  send  you  up  there  to  oper 
ate  that  branch.  You  will  receive  general  orders 
from  this  office,  and  we  will  let  you  know  when 
we  are  going  to  send  a  train  over  your  road ;  but 
as  to  the  details  of  the  operation,  I  shall  leave 
that  in  your  hands  until  I  see  whether  you  make 
a  success  of  it  or  not.  Of  course,  I  don't  want 
you  to  make  any  radical  changes  without  letting 
me  know  about  it  beforehand.  Your  principal  duty 
will  be  to  build  up  the  business  of  the  road;  it  is 
fairly  good  now,  but  I  am  convinced  that  under 
the  right  kind  of  management  it  could  be  largely 
increased.  You  will  make  your  headquarters  at 
this  end ;  and,  for  the  present,  you  will  have  to  do 
a  great  deal  of  the  work  yourself;  that's  why  I 
asked  if  you  were  a  telegrapher;  but  as  soon  as 
you  make  your  road  of  sufficient  value,  so  that  we 
can  afford  it,  we  will  give  you  more  help." 

I  admit  that  I  was  not  overjoyed  at  my  promotion. 
It  took  me  away  from  home  altogether,  and  the  pros 
pect  of  being  every  man's  jack,  and  working  twenty- 
four  hours  a  day,  to  say  nothing  of  receiving  more 
kicks  than  halfpence  for  my  reward,  was  not  alluring, 
especially  when  contrasted  with  my  present  easy  and 
pleasant  berth.  However,  we  soon  learn  that  rail 
roads  are  not  operated  for  the  benefit  of  employees. 

I  found  my  little  road  in  a  most  demoralized  condi- 


MY  TURN  AT  LAST  301 

tion.  The  engines  and  cars  were  badly  in  need  of 
repairs,  and  there  wasn't  an  engine  of  the  whole  three 
that  could  go  over  the  sixty  mile  division  without  stop 
ping  half  a  dozen  times  to  "  blow  up."  Nor  was  there 
a  car,  either  passenger  or  freight,  that  had  a  full  set 
of  brake-shoes,  and  other  things  accordingly.  The 
conductors  had  been  running  the  trains  to  suit  them 
selves,  and  as  the  conductor  and  engineer  of  each 
train  lived  near  each  other,  their  principal  efforts  had 
always  been  to  get  home  at  night,  where  they  could 
lay  over,  train  and  all,  until  the  next  morning.  There 
was  a  turnout  about  midway  of  the  road,  and  as  there 
could  not  be  more  than  three  trains  on  at  a  time, 
they  easily  kept  track  of  each  other,  and  all  hands 
waited  at  the  turnout  until  the  arrival  of  the  last 
train,  when  they  proceeded  on  their  way  rejoic 
ing. 

The  first  thing  I  did  was  to  send  for  machinists 
and  material  to  get  my  engines  and  cars  in  order.  I 
then  made  out  a  regular  time  table,  consisting  of  one 
passenger  and  two  freight  trains ;  the  passenger  and 
through  freight  doubled  the  road  every  day,  and  the 
way  freight  went  one  way  a  day  only.  It  wasn't  a 
very  satisfactory  service,  but  it  was  the  best  I  could 
do  with  the  material  at  hand,  and  it  was  such  an 
immense  improvement  over  the  former  method,  — 
which  had  been  what  railroad  men  call  a  tri-weekly 
service,  i.e.  trains  go  up  one  week  and  try  to  get 
back  the  next, — that  the  people  along  the  line  were 
very  well  pleased ;  for  at  any  rate  they  knew  now 


3O2  THE  GENERAL   MANAGER'S  STORY 

when  they  could  get  a  train,  or  a  car  to  ship  their 
stuff  in. 

I  had  some  trouble  at  first  with  the  fossils  who  had 
been  running  on  the  road  for  years,  and  disliked  my 
innovations ;  but  after  shifting  a  few  of  them  out  on 
to  the  main  line,  and  filling  their  places  with  main 
line  men  who  knew  no  better  than  to  obey  orders, 
the  rest  recognized  the  fact  that  a  new  era  had 
dawned  on  their  little  cross-country  track,  and  gov 
erned  themselves  accordingly.  The  natural  result  of 
bringing  order  out  of  chaos  was  that  the  business  of 
the  road  improved  wonderfully  inside  of  six  months, 
and  also  that  the  operating  expenses  decreased  pro 
portionately. 

During  the  second  year  of  my  incumbency,  another 
passenger  and  two  more  freight  trains  were  put  on, 
necessitating  the  building  of  more  sidings  for  passing 
points,  and  the  little  road  flourished  like  a  green  bay 
tree.  Although  the  general  manager  never  said  in 
so  many  words  that  he  was  pleased  with  my  manage 
ment,  I  felt  satisfied  that  he  was,  for  my  requisitions 
for  materials  were  always  filled  without  a  word  of 
protest,  and  he  voluntarily  increased  my  personal 
staff  until  I  was  relieved  from  all  manual  labor,  and 
was  at  liberty  to  devote  my  entire  time  and  attention 
to  the  interests  confided  to  my  care. 

I  now  began  to  experience  that  dignified  sense  of 
pleasure  which  comes  to  a  man  in  authority,  and 
wondered  how  I  could  ever  have  been  so  blind  to 
my  own  interests  as  to  have  regretted  giving  up 


MY  TURN  AT  LAST  303 

my  train  on  the  main  line,  to  take  charge  of  this 
branch. 

I  remained  in  this  position  nearly  five  years,  and 
during  that  time  great  improvements  were  made  on 
my  little  road.  The  company  finally  made  a  con 
tract  whereby  all  the  coal  for  the  use  of  their  loco 
motives  passed  over  the  branch.  This  increased  the 
business  to  such  an  extent,  and  I  had  to  put  in  so 
many  sidings,  that  I  judged  it  would  be  more  eco 
nomical  to  double  track  the  whole  thing,  and  so 
represented  to  the  general  manager;  but  he  was 
economically  inclined,  and  though  I  showed  him  that 
it  would  have  to  be  done  in  a  few  years,  anyway,  and 
that  it  was  an  unnecessary  expense  having  engines 
and  trains  standing  in  side-tracks,  waiting  for  an 
opportunity  to  go,  he  would  not  hear  of  it. 

Our  general  superintendent  left  the  road  about 
this  time  to  accept  a  position  with  an  eastern  road, 
and,  to  my  infinite  surprise,  I  was  elected  to  the 
vacant  position.  I  was  doubtful  about  accepting, 
but  the  general  manager  called  me  to  his  office,  and 
we  had  a  long  talk.  He  told  me  that  he  had  nomi 
nated  me  for  the  place  himself,  because  he  had  seen 
by  my  management  of  the  branch  that  I  had  the 
trait  which  railroad  companies  value  most  highly  ; 
namely,  managerial  ability.  He  told  me  not  to  be 
frightened  at  the  magnitude  of  the  job,  but  to  apply 
the  very  same  talents  to  the  superintendence  of  the 
whole  road  that  I  had  so  successfully  employed  in 
my  management  of  the  branch,  and  he  predicted 


304  THE  GENERAL   MANAGER'S   STORY 

that  I  should  be  successful.  At  the  same  time,  he 
assured  me  that  I  might  depend  upon  his  hearty 
cooperation,  and  told  me  always  to  come  to  him  for 
any  advice  that  I  might  need  when  knotty  points 
presented  themselves. 

With  such  assurances  of  good-will  and  helpfulness 
on  the  part  of  my  immediate  superior,  I  felt  embold 
ened  to  accept  the  position,  with  its  largely  increased 
responsibilities,  and  for  four  years  I  served  under 
the  immediate  eye  of  my  venerable  friend. 

He  was  one  of  the  best  railroad  men  that  this 
country  has  ever  produced,  a  perfect  gentleman,  and 
a  true  friend  to  me.  I  never  knew  him  to  hesitate 
a  moment  in  giving  his  decision  on  any  point,  no 
matter  how  intricate  it  might  be  ;  nor  did  I  ever 
know  him  to  render  a  decision  the  wisdom  of  which 
after  events  failed  to  confirm.  He  could  see  farther, 
and  more  deeply  and  clearly,  into  a  complex  question, 
affecting  innumerable  interests,  than  any  man  I  ever 
knew.  His  judgment  —  rendered  almost  instantane 
ously  —  seemed  to  be  infallible. 

It  was  due  to  my  close  connection  with  him  for 
so  many  years  that  I  owe  what  little  ability  I  have. 

After  four  years  of  apprenticeship  and  close  study 
under  this  master  mind,  I  had  no  hesitation  in  ac 
cepting  the  position  of  third  vice-president  and  gen 
eral  manager  of  this  road,  when  it  was  offered  me. 

On  coming  into  the  office,  I  found  the  road  in 
rather  bad  shape,  as  compared  with  the  one  from 
which  I  had  just  come.  There  were  abundant  evi- 


MY  TURN  AT  LAST  305 

dences  of  loose  management,  if  not  of  peculation, 
and  I  proceeded  at  once  to  straighten  out  the  tangle 
in  which  I  found  it. 

The  road  had  not  been  paying  as  well  as  its  com 
petitors  for  some  time,  and  as  a  natural  result  in 
vestors  were  withdrawing  their  capital,  and  the  stock 
was  falling.  To  reclaim  a  property  when  it  is  in  this 
condition  and  put  it  upon  a  paying  basis  is  a  big  con 
tract.  But  that  was  the  condition  that  confronted 
me,  and  I  determined  to  make  a  success  of  it,  if  it 
was  humanly  possible.  The  first  thing  to  do  was  to 
stop  all  the  leaks,  curtail  to  the  last  degree  the 
operating  expenses,  and  inaugurate  a  system  of  the 
most  rigid  economy,  without  crippling  the  efficiency 
of  the  road. 

For  over  a  month  I  put  in  twelve  and  fourteen 
hours  per  day  in  my  office,  familiarizing  myself  with 
all  the  details  of  the  road's  business.  I  found  that 
by  adding  slightly  to  the  work  of  some  of  the  men, 
I  could  dispense  entirely  with  the  services  of  quite 
a  number,  thereby  reducing  the  operating  expenses  a 
small  percentage. 

I  saw  where  a  train  could  be  advantageously  taken 
off  here  and  there,  or  two  trains  combined  into  one. 
I  believed  that  by  adding  from  one  to  five  cars  to 
some  of  the  trains,  I  would  be  able  to  lay  off  a  few 
locomotives  and  cabooses ;  and  so  on,  all  along  the 
line,  I  perceived  many  places  where  little  economies 
might  be  practised,  which  would  foot  up  quite  a  re 
spectable  total  at  the  end  of  the  year.  Still  the 


306  THE  GENERAL  MANAGER'S  STORY 

results  were  not  altogether  satisfactory,  and  I  was 
reluctantly  obliged  to  admit  to  myself  that  a  slight 
reduction  of  salaries  would  be  necessary  in  order  to 
accomplish  the  task  I  had  set  myself,  of  putting  the 
road  on  its  feet. 

Knowing  how  unpopular  such  an  act  on  the  part 
of  the  management  usually  is,  I  tried  to  avoid  it ; 
but  after  looking  the  ground  all  over  with  the  most 
careful  scrutiny,  I  could  see  no  other  way  out,  and 
was  in  the  very  act  of  drawing  up  a  reduced  schedule 
of  salaries,  to  be  submitted  to  the  president  and 
board  of  directors  with  my  report  of  the  condi 
tion  of  the  road,  and  my  recommendations  thereon, 
when  I  received  word  from  my  private  secretary 
that  a  delegation  of  the  employees  wished  to  see 
me. 

Although  I  was  extremely  busy,  I  ordered  my 
clerks  to  pick  up  their  papers  and  retire,  for  I  have 
always  held  that  the  dignity  of  labor  is  entitled  to 
the  most  prompt  recognition. 

They  entered,  four  as  fine,  honest,  bronzed  fellows 
as  you  could  wish  to  see ;  and  as  I  looked  over  my 
desk  at  them,  I  remembered  the  time,  years  ago, 
when  I  had  served  on  a  similiar  committee,  and  I 
sincerely  hoped  that  they  had  not  come  to  ask  for 
anything  that  I  should  be  unable  to  grant. 

I  bade  them  a  cordial  welcome,  and  asked  one  of 
their  number  to  introduce  the  committee,  which  he 
did.  They  were  an  engineer,  conductor,  fireman, 
and  brakeman ;  and  they  had  come  to  ask  for  a  ten 


MY  TURN  AT  LAST  307 

per  cent  increase  in  their  salaries.  They  had  copies 
of  the  schedules  of  pay  on  several  other  roads  with 
them,  which  showed  a  slight  average  increase  over 
what  we  were  paying.  I  let  them  talk  themselves 
out ;  and  then  told  them  that  I  didn't  think  that  the 
road  was  in  a  condition  to  increase  salaries  just  at 
present.  I  reminded  them  of  the  poor  business 
which  the  road  had  been  doing  for  some  time,  but 
they  said  that  they  were  not  to  blame  for  that ;  they 
had  performed  their  duties  faithfully,  and  were  work 
ing  harder  if  anything  than  the  men  on  the  other 
roads,  who  were  getting  more  pay  than  they  were, 
and  so  on,  and  so  on;  threshing  the  old  familiar 
straw  over  and  over  again. 

I  finally  told  them  that  I  would  lay  their  request 
before  the  board  of  directors,  but  held  out  no  hopes 
to  them ;  they  thanked  me  with  rather  poor  grace 
and  withdrew. 

I  now  hurried  up  my  report ;  the  president  called 
a  special  meeting  of  the  board,  and  I  laid  it  before 
them.  I  told  them  that  as  the  men  had  asked  for 
an  increase  of  pay  when  a  reduction  was  absolutely 
necessary  to  the  existence  of  the  road,  they  would 
probably  strike  when  they  received  the  notice.  I 
argued  that  to  be  forewarned  was  to  be  forearmed, 
and  guaranteed  that  if  they  would  authorize  me  to 
spend  a  few  thousands  of  dollars,  I  would  not  only 
defeat  the  strike,  but  equip  the  road  with  good  men, 
who  would  be  glad  of  a  chance  to  work  at  the  re 
duced  rates,  for  I  knew  that  in  consequence  of  the 


308  THE  GENERAL  MANAGER'S   STORY 

recent  failure  of  two  large  strikes  there  were  plenty 
of  good  railroad  men  idle. 

I  had  hard  work  to  convince  the  board  of  the  ad 
visability  of  spending  so  much  money  for  such  a 
purpose,  but  having  shown  them  that  I  could  make 
up  the  sum  in  two  months'  difference  in  the  rate  of 
pay,  they  finally  sanctioned  the  expenditure,  and  told 
me  to  go  ahead. 

I  now  knew  that  the  crucial  test  of  my  ability  con 
fronted  me.  If  I  lost  a  strike,  my  position  would 
very  quickly  follow  it,  and  my  prospects  in  life  be 
forever  damned ;  for  the  road  was  badly  enough  off 
now,  and  as  it  was  by  my  advice  that  the  strike  was 
to  be  allowed  to  take  place,  it  lay  entirely  with  me  to 
make  it  a  success  for  the  company. 

For  the  next  few  days  I  kept  the  wires  hot  with 
messages  to  the  general  managers  of  all  the  roads  in 
the  country,  asking  for  the  addresses  of  good  reliable 
men,  whom  they  knew  to  have  been  out  of  employ 
ment  long  enough,  so  that  they  would  be  willing  to 
accept  employment  in  a  strike.  I  soon  had  a  list 
that  would  have  manned  the  road  twice  over.  I 
selected  at  haphazard  twice  as  many  as  I  wanted  ; 
and  sent  them  a  stereotyped  letter,  offering  them 
employment,  and  stating  frankly  the  conditions,  and 
rates  of  pay ;  but  guaranteeing  them  free  transporta 
tion,  and  permanent  employment  for  such  as  were 
selected,  provided  they  proved  worthy. 

In  nearly  every  instance  the  terms  were  accepted. 
I  then  wired  to  the  several  roads,  requesting  them  to 


MY  TURN  AT  LAST  309 

furnish  the  necessary  transportation,  and  send  the 
bill  to  us.  They  invariably  furnished  free  transpor 
tation. 

In  the  meantime,  the  committee  called  on  me 
again  and  asked  for  the  decision  of  the  board. 
When  I  told  them  that  it  was  found  impossible  to 
raise  salaries  at  this  time,  they  went  away  very  much 
disgruntled. 

I  chartered  a  cheap  hotel,  and  as  fast  as  my  men 
arrived  I  put  them  into  it.  When  they  were  all  here, 
the  general  superintendent  and  myself  called  on  them, 
and  picked  out  ten  more  crews  than  enough  to  man 
the  road,  and  sent  the  rest  home,  grumbling  that 
they  had  been  swindled,  and  saying  that  they  hoped 
I  would  lose  the  strike. 

The  next  day  I  called  a  meeting  of  all  my  super 
intendents  and  gave  them  their  orders.  Each  one 
was  to  be  furnished  with  three  more  full  crews  than 
enough  to  man  his  division.  They  were  to  be  given 
regular  tickets,  so  that  they  could  ride  on  trains  with 
out  exciting  the  suspicions  of  the  old  hands,  and  were 
to  be  paid  their  wages  while  learning  the  road. 
Spotters  were  to  be  sent  on  the  trains  with  them 
to  see  that  they  did  not  become  familiar  with  the 
crews.  Of  course,  they  were  to  be  lodged  and  fed 
at  the  company's  expense ;  and  some  of  them  were 
so  shabbily  dressed  that  we  had  to  buy  clothing  for 
them,  so  that  they  might  not  attract  attention,  or 
excite  suspicion  by  continually  riding  in  the  pas 
senger  coaches. 


3IO  THE  GENERAL  MANAGER'S   STORY 

At  the  end  of  one  month  the  men  all  reported  that 
they  knew  the  road  thoroughly.  The  next  day  I  is 
sued  my  notice  of  the  reduction  of  pay ;  and,  in  order 
that  it  might  not  miss  fire,  I  made  it  much  heavier 
than  I  intended  that  it  should  be. 

The  committee  called  on  me  that  afternoon.  They 
were  no  longer  respectful  in  their  demeanor,  but 
talked  rather  loudly.  They  asked  me  if  I  intended 
to  starve  them  altogether.  I  told  them  that  I  had 
not  thought  of  them  at  all.  I  said  that  the  road 
could  not  afford  to  pay  the  wages  that  it  had  been 
paying,  hence  a  reduction  had  been  decided  upon ; 
but  that  it  was  not  incumbent  on  them  to  accept  it 
if  they  found  it  unsatisfactory,  any  more  than  it  was 
incumbent  on  the  road  to  pay  them  higher  wages  than 
its  business  would  warrant. 

"By  G— d  !  "  said  the  brakeman,  "we  won't  accept 
it ;  we'll  tie  your  d — d  old  road  up  —  we'll  strike." 

"Strike,  if  you  wish,"  said  I;  "that's  your  busi 
ness." 

"  Yes,  we  will  strike,  you  d — d  old  —  " 

Here  I  touched  a  button,  and  a  couple  of  special 
officers  entered  and  escorted  the  refractory  committee 
out.  The  next  day  they  struck ;  and  the  new  men 
took  the  trains  out  nearly  on  time.  On  the  third 
day  the  road  was  running  as  smoothly  as  it  ever  did ; 
and  I  was  continually  denying  myself  to  ex-strikers 
who  desired  to  be  reemployed. 

There  were  quite  a  number  of  the  old  hands  who 
claimed  that  they  had  taken  no  part  in  the  strike 


MY  TURN  AT  LAST  311 

whatever;  and  therefore  they  thought  that  they 
should  have  been  retained  in  the  company's  service ; 
but  I  deemed  it  best  for  the  morale  of  the  equipment 
that  none  of  the  old  men  should  be  retained  to  cause 
heart-burnings  and  jealousies,  so  I  let  them  all  go. 

With  the  exception  of  a  few  cases  of  drunkenness, 
burned  boilers,  and  slight  collisions,  the  new  men  did 
first  rate.  The  superintendent  soon  weeded  out  the 
unreliable  ones,  and  then  they  were  as  good  as  could 
be  wished. 

Six  months  later,  the  business  of  the  road  not 
having  increased  satisfactorily,  I  gave  them  another 
slight  reduction ;  they  accepted  it  in  a  proper  spirit, 
and  have  never  since  asked  to  have  their  pay  re 
stored. 

Within  two  years  of  my  taking  charge  of  the 
property  the  road  was  on  a  paying  basis ;  and  I 
flatter  myself  that  to-day  our  stock  compares  favor 
ably  with  the  best  in  the  market. 


FINIS 


Crown  8vo.      6s. 

THE 

QUEEN  OF  THE  MOOR 

A  TALE   OF  DARTMOOR   IN   THE  DAYS 
OF   WATERLOO 

BY    FREDERIC    ADYE 


CONTENTS. 

CHAP. 

I.  TOR  ROYAL. 

II.  MORNING  ON  THE  MOOR. 

III.  THE  WAR  PRISON. 

IV.  PAR  CERE  SUBJECTIS. 
V.  THE  DARTMOOR  HUNT. 

VI.  A  FOX  CHASE  ON  DARTMOOR. 

VII.  SOUTH  HESSARY. 

VIII.  A  KISS  IN  TIME. 

IX.  OKERY  COTTAGE. 

X.  THE  SHERBURTON  BULL. 

XI.  MADAME  GALMADY  DE  TOR  ROYAL, 

XII.  BY  THE  CORNISH  SEA 

XIII.  THE  FORSTERS  AT  HOME. 

XIV.  FAMILY  TALK. 
XV.  FATHER  SEGUIER. 

XVI.  MISS  CALMADY  ENTERTAINS. 


THE  QUEEN  OF  THE  MOOR. 


CONTENTS—  Continued— 

CHAP. 

XVII.  A  DINNER  PARTY  AT  TOR  ROYAL. 

XVIII.  "DO  TAKE  HIM,  HE'S  THOROUGH-BRED. 

XIX.  THE  FISHERMAN'S  DAUGHTER. 

XX.  A  PERILOUS  SAIL. 

XXI.  NAUGHTY  GUNHILDA. 

XXII.  THE  HONOURABLE  JACK. 

XXIII.  " THERE  SHOULD  BE  A  GENTLEMAN." 

XXIV.  SNOWBALLING. 
XXV.  THE  TAME  HERON. 

XXVI.    A  SCENE  ON  THE  ICE. 
XXVII.    THE  FRENCH  SERGEANT. 
XXVIII.    DANGER  AHEAD. 
XXIX.    A  DISCIPLE  OF  LAVATER. 
XXX.    THE  REVEREND  ROUNDER. 
XXXI.    FRANK  IN  TROUBLE. 
XXXII.    DRIVING  THE  DRIFT. 

XXXIII.  POVERA  PICCIOLA. 

XXXIV.  THE  KING'S  SHILLING. 
XXXV.    THE  MARSEILLAISE. 

XXXVI.  VAE  VICT1S. 

XXXVII.  WISTMAN'S  WOOD. 

XXXVIII,  BROTHER  AND  SISTER. 

XXXIX.  CECIL  VISITS  THE  BARBICAN. 

XL.  THE  SEARCH  WARRANT. 

XLI.  THE  DOCTOR'S  KITCHEN. 

XLII.  GOOD-BYE  TO  THE  MOOR. 

XLIII.  WAR'S  ALARUMS. 

XLIV.  THE  EIGHTEENTH  OF  JUNE. 

XLV.  AMONG  THE  PROVENCE  ROSES. 

XLVI.  THE  BELLS  OF  BATTREAUX. 

XLVII  CONCLUSION. 


THE  QUEEN  OF  THE  MOOR. 


OPINIONS   OF   THE    PRESS. 

DAILY  TELEGRAPH— "  His  chapters  in  praise  of  the  stout  hill 
foxes,  and  the  brilliant  runs  they  give  over  miles  of  grass  and  fern, 
remind  us  in  their  freshness  and  abundance  of  life  of  Whyte  Melville 
at  his  best.  .  .  .  The  novel  is  an  excellent  one." 

GRAPHIC — "  It  is  long  since  we  have  read  a  novel  with  so  much 
unbroken  pleasure." 

PALL  MALL  GAZETTE—"  A  very  pretty  little  plot  of  adventure 
and  love  is  woven  out  of  this  material.  Interspersed,  but  not  too 
frequently,  are  some  hunting  scenes  drawn  with  great  spirit." 

MANCHESTER  EXAMINER—"  Reminds  us  very  forcibly  of 
some  of  the  most  characteristic  romances  of  Charles  Kingsley  and 
Mr.  Blackmore.  The  Queen  of  the  Moor  is  like  Westward  Ho !  and 
Lorna  Doone>  full  of  nature  and  of  human  nature." 

MORNING  POST—  "Since  Lorna  Doom  the  natural  features  of 
an  English  district  have  not  been  described  with  such  a  vigorous 
touch  as  is  Dartmoor  and  the  country  that  surrounds  it  in  Mr.  Adye's 
novel  ...  his  delightful  romance  which  has  the  freshness  of  the 
wild  moors  it  so  vividly  paints." 

DAILY  CHRONICLE — "  Lovers  of  the  picturesque  in  nature  will 
render  grateful  thanks  to  Mr.  Adye  for  the  admirable  sketches  he  gives 
of  romantic  Dartmoor.  .  .  .  There  is  a  charm  about  these  descrip 
tions  which  reminds  us  of  those  of  Mr.  R.  D.  Blackmore.  We  never 
tire  of  them,  for  they  are  never  twice  the  same.  Each  time  we  get  a 
new  glimpse,  and  each  time  we  feel  more  strongly  drawn  to  this  land  of 
heath  and  tor." 

OBSERVER—  "A  work  that  will  rank  high  among  the  historical 
romances  of  the  present  day. " 


MACMILLAN    AND    CO.,    LTD.,    LONDON 


Crown  &vo.     6s. 


ROLF  BOLDREWOOUS  NEW  NOVEL 


PLAIN     LIVING 


BY   ROLF    BOLDREWOOD 

BY  THE   SAME 

MY     RUN     HOME 

Crown  8vo.      6s. 


A  THENMUM-"  Rolf  Boldrewood's  last  story  is  a  racy  volume.  It  has  many 
of  the  best  qualities  of  Whyte  Melville,  the  breezy  freshness  and  vigour  of  Frank 
Smedley,  with  the  dash  and  something  of  the  abandon  of  Lever.  .  His  last 

volume  is  one  of  his  best." 

GLASGOW  HERALD— "Ihzre.  is  a  fresh  breeziness  about  the  book  which 
makes  it  pleasant  reading." 

DAILY"  MAIL — "A  sprightly  book,  this  is,  as  much  English  as  Australian,  with 
a  style  distinguished  by  a  rattling  freedom  which  rarely  degenerates  into  slipshod- 
ness.  The  interest  is  mainly  horsey,  yet  the  men  and  women  live  and  the  whole 
story  goes  with  a  swing  and  a  rush." 

OBSERVER— "Lacks  neither  incident  nor  interest,  and  will,  doubtless,  find 
many  readers.' 

MANCHESTER  GUARDIAN— "There  is  always  life  and  movement  in  what 
Mr.  Rolf  Boldrewood  writes." 

MACMILLAN   AND   CO.,   LTD.,   LONDON 


Crown  8vo.     6s, 

THE 

SECRET  OF  ST.  FLOREL 

BY    JOHN    BERWICK 


SPEAKER — "A  book  to  be  unreservedly  recommended." 

DAILY  TELEGRAPH—"  The  thrilling  interest  of  the  narrative  is 
continuously  sustained  by  the  malefactions  of  no  fewer  than  three 
several  and  distinct  villains,  whom  the  author  utilizes  with  consummate 
ability  as  instruments  of  romantic  complication.  .  .  .  Teems  with 
novel  incident,  and  bristles  with  exciting  adventures." 

OBSERVER — "A  capital  romance,  and  well  worth  reading." 
STANDARD—"  Clever  and  well  written." 

DAILY  CHRONICLE—" The  story  is  interesting.  .  .  .  The 
end  is  dramatic  and  original." 

GLASGOW  HERALD— •"  The  descriptions  of  foreign  life  and  travel 
are  delightful,  and  this  novel  is  in  every  way  a  well- written  one." 

SCOTSMAN—  "A  thoroughly  healthy  and  well-told  story,  with 
plenty  of  stirring  incident  and  variety  of  scene  and  situation,  and  it 
is  not  wanting  in  study  of  character  and  knowledge  of  life,  savage, 
semi-savage,  and  civilized." 

MACMILLAN   AND   CO.,   LTD.,   LONDON 


Globe  Svo.      1 2s. 
R    MARION  CRAWFORD'S   NEW  NOVEL 

CORLEONE 

In  Two    Volumes. 


DAIL  Y  CHRONICLE—"  These  Sicilian  scenes  are  admirably  rendered, 
for  Mr.  Crawford  is  an  artist,  and  an  artist  of  strongly  dramatic  instincts. 
.  .  .  All  who  love  Mr.  Crawford's  work  (roughly  speaking,  all  who  know 
it,  that  is)  know  well  enough  that  the  oldest  story  would  be  improved  by 
his  telling  of  it." 

ACADEMY— "The  story  is  told  in  Mr.  Crawford's  best  manner,  and 
after  the  preliminary  chapters  are  well  out  of  the  way,  you  can  hardly  lay 
it  aside." 

PUNCH — "The  reader's  interest  in  the  story,  roused  at  the  commence 
ment,  grows  in  intensity  as  the  plot  is  artistically  developed  to  its  climax. 
Mr.  Crawford's  pictures  of  Italian  scenery  are  perfect,  and  his  characters, 
belonging  to  the  Roman  Society,  with  which  he  has  familiarized  us  in  so 
many  of  his  books,  are  living  beings  before  our  eyes." 

DAILY  TELEGRAPH—11  A  good  story  .  .  .  full  of  vigorous  touches, 
interesting,  and  even  absorbing  from  beginning  to  end." 

SPECTATOR— "The  glories  of  the  Sicilian  landscape  are  admirably 
painted,  and  the  book  is  enriched  by  a  good  deal  of  illuminative  commentary 
on  the  peculiarities  of  the  Italian  and  Sicilian  temperament.  ...  A 
brilliant  and  engrossing  story." 

LITERATURE — "We  have  not  often  met  with  a  more  satisfactory 
novel  than  Corleone,  and  have  little  doubt  that  it  will  be  regarded  as  one 
of  Mr.  Crawford's  best  works.  ...  An  exciting  and  dramatic  story. " 

PALL  MALL  GAZETTE— "Mr.  Marion  Crawford  at  his  best,  with 
his  inventive  faculties  at  their  boldest,  his  constructive  skill  at  its  fullest, 
and  with  his  grace  of  manner  always  before  us,  gives  such  joy  as  the  fabulist 
may  rarely  hope  to  afford.  In  Corleone  we  find  to  our  huge  delight  that  it 
is  once  again  Mr.  Crawford  at  his  best.  ...  A  splendid  romance  of 
much  originality,  and  always  captivating  and  impressive." 

SPEAKER— "  This  is  almost,  if  not  quite,  the  strongest  and  most 
striking  of  the  brilliant  series  of  romances  to  which  it  belongs." 

MACMILLAN   AND   CO.,   LTD.,   LONDON 


NOVELS  BY  F.  MARION  CRAWFORD 

Crown  $>vo.      6s.  each. 
A    ROSE    OF    YESTERDAY. 

WORLD—"  A  charming  story." 

TAQUISARA. 

PALL  MALL  GAZETTE—"  Cannot  fail  to  be  read  with  interest  and  pleasure 
by  all  to  whom  clever  characterization  and  delicate  drawing  make  appeal." 

Crown  8vo.      35.  6d.  each. 


Mr.  Isaacs :  A  Tale  of  Modern  India. 
A  thenaum — "A  work  of  unusual  ability. " 
Doctor  Claudius:  A  True  Story. 

A  thtnceum— "Mr.  Crawford  has  achieved 
another  success." 

A  Roman  Singer. 

Times— "A  masterpiece  of  narrative. 
.  .  .  Unlike  any  other  romance  in  Eng 
lish  literature." 

Zoroaster. 

Guardian — "  An  instance  of  the  highest 
and  noblest  form  of  novel." 

Marzios  Crucifix. 

Times — "  A  subtle  compound  of  artistic 
feeling,  avarice,   malice,    and    criminal 
frenzy  is  this  carver  of  silver  chalices 
and  crucifixes." 
A  Tale  of  a  Lonely  Parish. 

Saturday  Review — "  Unlike  most  novels 
'A  Tale  of  a  Lonely  Parish"  goes  on 
improving  up  to  the  end." 
Paul  Fatoff. 

St.  Jamts's  Gazette — "  Those  who  neglect 
to  read  'Paul  Patoff'  will  throw  away  a 
very  pleasurable  opportunity." 
With  the  Immortals. 

Spectator — "  Cannot  fail  to  please  a 
reader  who  enjoys  crisp,  clear,  vigorous 
writing,  and  thoughts  that  are  alike 
original  and  suggestive." 

Greifenstein. 

Guardian — "The  book,  we  doubt  not, 
will  rank  very  high  among  Mr.  Craw 
ford's  novels." 

Sant'   Ilario. 

Athenaeum — "  The  plot  is  skilfully  con 
cocted,  and  the  interest  is  sustained  to 
the  end.  .  .  .  A  very  clever  piece  of  work." 
A  Cigarette-Maker's 

Romance. 

Globe-"  We  are  inclined  to  think  this 
is  the  best  of  Mr.  M.  Crawford's  stories." 

Khaled  :  A  Tale  of  Arabia. 
A  nti- Jacobin — ' '  Mr.      Crawford     has 
written  some  stories  more  powerful,  but 
none  more  attractive  than  this." 


The  Three  Fates. 

National  Observer — "A  brilliant  varia 
tion  from  Mr.  F.  Marion  Crawford's  wonted 
style." 

The  Witch  of  Prague. 

Academy— "  It  is  a  romance  of  singular 
daring  and  power." 

Marion  Darche :  A  Story  without 

Comment. 

Athenasum — "The  characters  are  thor 
oughly  interesting,  the  dialogue  easy, 
and  the  situations  effective.  .  .  ." 

Katherine  Lauderdale. 

Punch—"  Admirable  in  its  simple 
pathos,  its  unforced  humour,  and,  above 
all,  in  its  truth  to  human  nature." 

The  Children  of  the  King-. 

Daily  Chronicle — "  Mr.  Crawford  has  not 
done  better  work  than  '  The  Children  of 
the  King '  for  a  long  time." 

Pietro  Ghisleri. 

Speaker — "Mr.  Crawford  is  an  artist, 
and  a  great  one,  and  he  has  been 
brilliantly  successful  in  a  task  in  which 
ninety-nine  out  of  every  hundred  writers 
would  have  failed." 

Don  Orsino. 

Athenaeum—  "'Don  Orsino'  is  a  story 
with  many  strong  points." 

Casa  Bracclo. 

Daily  Telegraph — "  The  reader  will  not 
easily  lay  it  down  until  he  has  reached 
the  concluding  page." 

Adam  Johnstone's  Son. 

Daily  News— "  Mr.  Crawford  has  written 
stories  richer  in  incident  and  more 
powerful  in  intention,  but  we  do  not 
think  that  he  has  handled  more  deftly  or 
shown  a  more  delicate  insight  into  tend 
encies  that  go  towards  making  some  of 
the  more  spiritual  tragedies  of  life. " 

The  Ralstons. 

Academy— "A  book  to  be  read,  and 
read  more  than  once." 


MACMILLAN   AND   CO.,   LTD.,   LONDON 


Crown  8m      6s. 

BY  THE  AUTHOR  OF 
"THE  COURTSHIP  OF  MORRICE  BUCKLER" 

THE     PHILANDERERS 

BY 

A.    E.    W.    MASON 


GLOBE — "  His  work  is  virile  ;  it  is  individual ;  it  is,  in  certain  fine 
qualities,  distinguished." 

WORLD — "One  of  the  most  interesting  novels  we  have  met  for 
a  long  time." 

ACADEMY—"  The  Philanderers  should  add  to  Mr.  Mason's  reputa 
tion — a  reputation  which,  I  am  convinced,  will  continue  to  grow." 

DAILY  MAIL — "There  is  no  weakness  here,  no  shallowness,  no 
compromise.  Built  up  with  strength  and  sincerity,  and  finely  written, 
the  story  braces  the  mind  as  much  as  it  captivates  the  taste.'' 

PALL  MALL  GAZETTE — "The  charm  of  the  story  lies  in  the 
clear,  sharp  outlines  and  delicate  shading  with  which  the  chief  characters 
are  limned,  and  the  grace  and  ease  of  the  style  and  of  the  dialogues. 
.  .  .  .  All  Mr.  Mason's  Philanderers  are  convincing — 'neither 
children  nor  gods,'  but  men  and  women  in  a  world  of  afternoon  teas — 
and  thoroughly  convincing." 

DAILY  TELEGRAPH— "It  is  light,  sparkling,  and  very  well 
told." 

ATHEN&UM — "Mr.  Mason  is  to  be  much  congratulated  on  a 
fine  book." 

BRITISH  REVIEW  AND  NATIONAL  OBSERVER— "  K 
book  to  read." 

GUARDIAN — "  It  is  cleverly  and  well  written,  with  both  humour 
and  brilliance." 

WESTMINSTER  GAZETTE—"  A  clever  and  original  story,  told 
with  much  freshness  and  vivacity." 

MACMILLAN   AND   CO.,   LTD.,   LONDON 


Cvoivn  8vo.     6s. 

THE   COURTSHIP 


OF 


MORRICE    BUCKLER 

BY  A.   E.  W.   MASON 


TIMES — "It  is  a  pleasure  to  meet  a  romance  of  historical  times, 
rather  than  a  romance  of  history  (for  actual  events  are  scarcely  intro 
duced),  so  vigorous,  brilliant,  rapid,  and  exciting  as  The  Courtship  oj 
Morrice  Buckler.  ...  If  his  work  be  not  widely  read,  if  many  do 
not  breathlessly  follow  Morrice  Buckler  from  Leyden  to  London,  to 
Bristol,  to  Lukstein,  and  in  all  his  wanderings,  the  loss  will  be  that  of 
novel -readers." 

ATHENAEUM — "Mr.  Mason's  manner  is  alert  and  engaging,  and 
his  matter  fresh  and  stirring.  No  one  who  takes  up  his  novel  is  likely 
to  lay  it  down  unfinished." 

PUNCH — "  If  this  my  hint  will  increase  the  number  of  readers,  they 
will,  unless  gratitude  be  extinct,  thank  me  for  my  strong  recommenda 
tion  as  to  the  excellent  entertainment  provided  for  them  in  The 
Courtship  of  Morrice  Buckler. " 

PALL  MALL  GAZETTE—"  A  right  gallant  romance  of  the  seven 
teenth  century,  which  is  attractive  from  one  end  to  the  other." 

SPECTATOR — "A  thrilling  romance,  with  a  most  ingenious  and 
mysterious  plot.  The  story  is  excellently  told." 

BLACK  AND  WHITE—"  Admirable  in  every  respect." 

SPEAKER— "  A  fine  dramatic  tale." 

DAILY  TELEGRAPH— "Without  a  doubt  the  name  of  Mr.  A.  E. 
W.  Mason  must  be  added  to  that  small  but  distinguished  band  who  have 
given  so  brilliant  a  revival  to  the  old-fashioned  bustling  romance  of  fair 
and  haughty  ladies,  brave  gallants,  duels,  ruffles  and  brocades,  and  all 
the  varied  and  charming  ingredients  of  those  tales  of  bygone  days  which 
are  such  welcome  refreshment  in  these  prosaic  times." 

MACMILLAN   AND   CO.,   LTD.,   LONDON 


Crown  Bi'ff.     6s. 

STORIES   OF  NAPLES 

AND   THE 

CAMORRA 

BY   CHARLES   GRANT 


GUARDIAN — "These  stories  are  written  from  personal  knowledge  of 
the  Neapolitan  peasant  class,  and  in  consequence  they  are  most  remarkable. 
To  gain  this  knowledge,  Mr.  Grant  gathered  his  material  'by  personal 
intercourse  with  the  lower  classes  in  their  narrow  homes,  or  in  by-ways  and 
lanes  still  narrower.'  .  .  .  Such  material  gained  in  so  intimate  a  fashion 
Mr.  Grant  has  worked  up  into  stories  thrilling  in  their  realistic  interest." 

PALL  MALL  GAZETTE— "We  cordially  recommend  the  book, 
especially  to  the  lovers  of  Italy  and  her  picturesque  people." 

NATIONAL  OBSER VER-" As  a  picture  of  the  way  in  which  the 
South  Italians  live  and  act,  and  think  and  feel,  these  sketches,  drawn  mostly 
from  life,  are  of  historical  as  well  as  literary  value." 

Mr.  GLADSTONE  writes  to  the  publishers:  "In  all  the  tales  I  think  it 
most  interesting  and  instructive — in  the  two  first  delightful,  and  extremely 
skilful  also.  .  .  .  Mr.  Grant  must  have  been  a  delightful  man." 

TIMES — "Mr.  Grant's  collection  of  Neapolitan  sketches,  or  studies  in 
fiction,  founded  on  his  peculiar  and  extensive  knowledge  of  the  populace,  is 
a  work  of  poignant  interest.  .  .  .  Full  of  incident  and  colour.  .  .  . 
The  book  is  one  of  permanent  value." 

MORNING  POST—'1  Within  its  limits  leaves  nothing  to  be  desired  for 
fidelity  of  characterization  and  colouring,  and  induces  regret  that  a  writer 
of  such  varied  gifts  should  have  died  at  a  comparatively  early  age.  .  .  . 
The  entire  volume  is  vividly  descriptive  and  full  of  Southern  colour." 

DAILY NE  WS — " The  book  is  well  worth  reading  and  even  studying. 
The  street  scenes  are  handled  with  artistic  effectiveness,  and  the  people  seem 
to  live  before  us. " 

SCOTSMAN—"  It  is  not  a  bare,  Zolaesque,  photographic  picture  of  low 
life  that  is  revealed.  The  hand  of  the  artist  in  words,  and  the  touch  of  the 
genial  sympathizer  with  human  nature  in  all  its  aspects  invest  it  with  infinite 
charm,  and  few  who  take  up  this  book  will  lay  it  down  without  feeling  that 
Mr.  Grant  has  conveyed  in  these  pages  some  notion  of  the  fascination  which 
held  him  so  long  in  Naples." 

GLASGO  W  HERALD—"  If  Mr.  Grant  has  left  any  other  studies  of  the 
city  he  loved  so  well,  we  hope  that  they  too  may  be  published,  for  this  book 
makes  us  long  for  more." 

MACMILLAN   AND   CO.,   LTD.,   LONDON 


Crown  %vo.     6s. 


A 

CHAPTER  OF  ACCIDENTS 

BY 

MRS.   HUGH   FRASER 


Crown  %vo.      6s. 
BY  THE   SAME   AUTHOR 

PALLADIA 


SA  TURD  A  Y  RE  VIE  W—"l\.  has  a  capital  plot,  fascinating  charac 
ters,  and  much  dramatic  interest.  ...  A  good  piece  of  work,  full 
of  interest  and  humour." 

SPEAKER — "There  are  very  few  who,  having  begun  the  perusal 
of  Palladia,  will  care  to  lay  it  down  until  the  last  page  is  reached." 
MORNING  POST—11  Romantic,  picturesque,  and  interesting." 
NA  TIONAL  OBSER  VER-"  A  romance  of  thrilling  interest. " 
SPECTA  TOR — "  A  most  engrossing  and  ingenious  story." 
ACADEMY—  "It  cannot  be  said  there  is  a  dull  page  in  Palladia 
from  beginning  to  end." 

DAILY  TELEGRAPH— "  It  is  even  better  than  The  Brown 
Ambassador,  good  as  that  delightfully  humorous  book  was  in  its  way, 
and  higher  praise  than  this  it  is  unnecessary  to  bestow." 

GLASGO  W  HERALD— •' '  This  is  in  every  respect  a  capital  romance." 

PALL  MALL  GAZETTE—"  A  satisfactory  romance  is  Palladia." 

SCOTSMAN — "Full  of  stirring  and  exciting  scenes.     Many  of  the 

characters  are  drawn  with  great  skill,  and  the  novel  deserves  to  find 

many  readers. " 

MACMILLAN   AND  CO.,   LTD.,   LONDON 


Crown  %vo.      6s< 

A  SON  OF  THE  PLAINS 

BY  ARTHUR  PATERSON 


TIMES — "As  a  book  for  a  railway  journey,  or  to  pass  a  pleasant, 
indeed  a  thrilling,  hour  with,  Mr.  Arthur  Paterson's  A  Son  of  the  Plains 
may  be  thoroughly  recommended." 

PA LL  MALL  GAZETTE—1'  A  book  of  great  interest.  ...  He 
has  written  a  most  thrilling  and  effective  story  in  the  simplest  and  most 
unaffected  manner." 

WORLD—"  The  interest  is  never  allowed  to  flag." 

BRITISH  WEEKLY—11  The  book  is  written  in  a  masterly  style." 

DAILY  CHRONICLE— "It  boys  are  what  they  were  and  what  they 
ought  to  be,  and  parents  and  guardians  know  how  to  select  books  for 
presents  at  Christmas  time,  Mr.  Paterson  will  receive  a  big  cheque  from  his 
publishers  ;  and  most  thoroughly  will  he  have  deserved  it." 

DAILY  TELEGRAPH— "A.  bright,  exhilarating  story  of  thrilling 
adventures  and  hairbreadth  'scapes  in  Western  America.  ...  As  a 
sensational  romance  Mr.  Paterson's  latest  fiction  may  safely  be  pronounced 
'  bad  to  beat. '  " 

ST.  JAMES'S  BUDGET—"  It  would  be  difficult  to  find  a  more 
exciting  story  of  adventure  than  that  provided  by  Mr.  Arthur  Paterson 
in  A  Son  of  (he  Plains.  .  .  .  The  interest  never  flags  for  a  single 
instant." 

GLASGOW  HERALD— "There  is  a  fine  spirit  of  adventure  about 
this  story.  .  .  .  Mr.  Paterscn  is,  as  it  were,  a  Fenimore  Cooper  born 
out  of  due  time,  and  his  story  is  distinctly  clever  and  exciting." 

SCOTSMAN — "A  better  story  of  love  and  adventure,  specially  adven 
ture,  neither  boy  nor  man  has  any  need  to  desire." 

ADMIRALTY  GAZETTE— "A  graphic  and  extremely  readable  tale 
of  western  frontier  life. " 

,WHITEHALL  REV  IE  W-"  The  author  has  succeeded  in  producing 
a  work  that  will  rank  among  high-class  fiction,  and  as  a  wholesome  book 
for  boys  nothing  will  be  more  eagerly  welcomed." 

SPEAKER — "  His  new  story  is  as  thrilling,  as  brimful  of  adventure 
and  incident,  and  as  graphic  in  narration  as  anything  he  has  yet  written. 
To  say  that  there  is  not  a  dull  page  in  the  story  is  to  understate 
the  case." 

MACMILLAN  AND  CO.,  LTD.,  LONDON 


Crown  8vo.    6s. 

FOR  PRINCE  &  PEOPLE 

of  €Jt»  (Benoa 


BY 

E.    K.   SANDERS 


MANCHESTER  GUARDIAN-"  A  spirited  story  of  political 
strife  in  Genoa  in  the  sixteenth  century.  The  conclusion  does  not  land 
us  in  fairyland,  but  if  the  sober  colouring  of  a  work-a-day  world  would 
be  not  an  absolute  bar  to  the  enjoyment  of  youthful  readers  the  book 
can  be  heartily  recommended  to  them,  both  for  its  sustained  interest 
and  for  the  high  tone  pervading  it." 

SCOTSMAN—"  The  plot  is  well  conceived  and  well  handled." 


MACMILLAN  AND  CO.,  LTD.,  LONDON 


Crown  %vo.     6s. 


RED     ROWANS 

BY    MRS.    F.    A.    STEEL 

AUTHOR  OF  "ON  THE  FACE  OF  THE  WATERS' 


STANDARD—"  Mrs.  Steel's  book  is  healthy  and  well  written,  fall 
of  rational  optimism  and  sympathetic  understanding  of  poor  human 
nature." 

DAILY  CHRONICLE—"  Judge  it  by  what  canons  of  criticism  you 
will,  the  book  is  a  work  of  art.  .  .  .  The  story  is  simple  enough, 
but  it  is  as  life-like  as  anything  in  modern  fiction.  The  people  speak 
and  act  as  people  do  act  and  speak.  There  is  not  a  false  note  through 
out.  Mrs.  Steel  draws  children  as  none  but  a  master  hand  can  draw." 

BLACK  AND  WHITE— "It  reveals  keen  sympathy  with  nature, 
and  clever  portraiture,  and  it  possesses  many  passages  both  humorous 
and  pathetic. " 

NA TIONAL  OBSERVER—"  Her  cleverness  reveal?  itself  in  many 
a  felicitous  phrase  expressive  of  just  judgment  and  earnest  thought." 

ST.  JAMES'S  GAZETTE— "It  is  such  as  goes  far  towards  the 
making  of  a  solid  and  enduring  reputation. " 

GLASGOW  HERALD—"  Her  book  is  a  notable  one." 

SCOTSMAN—  "It  is  not  every  day  that  one  lights  on  a  story  so 
entertaining,  clever,  and  at  times  even  brilliant." 

PUBLISHERS'  CIRCULAR—"  The  story  is  thoroughly  interest 
ing  throughout,  being  clever  alike  in  its  style,  plot,  and  character- 
drawing." 

WESTMINSTER  GAZETTE—"  Red  Rowans  is  far  and  away 
above  the  average  of  novels,  and,  without  doubt,  one  of  those  books 
which  no  reader  of  current  fiction  should  miss." 

DAILY  NEWS— "The  book  is  written  with  distinction.  It  is 
moving,  picturesque,  the  character  drawing  is  sensitive  and  strong." 

MACMILLAN   AND    CO.,   LTD.,   LONDON 


Crown  Zvo.     6s. 

THE   FALL  OF  A  STAR 


BY 

SIR  WM.    MAGNAY,   BART. 


DAILY  CHRONICLE—"  Its  interest  is  breathless  and  cumulative 
from  the  first  page  to  the  last." 


WORKS    BY    RUDYARD    KIPLING. 

Crown  %vo.     6s.  each. 

THE   LIGHT  THAT   FAILED. 

SOLDIERS   THREE. 

WEE  WILLIE   WINKIE. 

LIFE'S   HANDICAP. 

MANY   INVENTIONS. 

PLAIN   TALES   FROM   THE   HILLS. 

SOLDIER  TALES. 

THE   FIRST  JUNGLE   BOOK. 

THE   SECOND   JUNGLE   BOOK. 

CAPTAINS   COURAGEOUS. 

MACMILLAN  AND  CO.,  LTD.,  LOND0N 


80,000  copies  of  this  work  have  been  sold. 

Fcap.  %vo.     6s. 

THE    CHOIR    INVISIBLE 

BY 

JAMES    LANE   ALLEN 

AUTHOR  OF  "SUMMER  IN  ARCADY,"  "A  KENTUCKY  CARDINAL,"  ETC. 

ACADEMY—"  A  book  to  read,  and  a  book  to  keep  after  reading.  Mr.  Allen's 
gifts  are  many— a  style  pellucid  and  picturesque,  a  vivid  and  disciplined  power 
of  characterization,  and  an  intimate  knowledge  of  a  striking  epoch  and  an  alluring 
country.  ...  So  magical  is  the  wilderness  environment,  so  fresh  the  char 
acters,  so  buoyant  the  life  they  lead,  so  companionable,  so  well  balanced,  and  so 
touched  with  humanity,  the  author's  personality,  that  I  hereby  send  him  greeting 
and  thanks  for  a  brave  book.  .  .  .  The  Choir  Invisible  is  a  fine  achievement." 

PALL  MALL  GAZETTE—"  Mr.  Allen's  power  of  character  drawing  invests  the 
old,  old  story  with  renewed  and  absorbing  interest.  .  .  .  The  fascination  of 
the  story  lies  in  great  part  in  Mr.  Allen's  graceful  and  vivid  style." 

DAILY  MAIL—"  The  Choir  Invisible  is  one  of  those  very  few  books  which  help 
one  to  live.  And  hereby  it  is  beautiful  even  more  than  by  reason  of  its  absolute 
purity  of  style,  its  splendid  descriptions  of  nature,  and  the  level  grandeur  of  its 
severe,  yet  warm  and  passionate  atmosphere." 

BRITISH  WEEKL Y—  "Certainly  this  is  no  commonplace  book,  and  I  have 
failed  to  do  justice  to  its  beauty,  its  picturesqueness,  its  style,  its  frequent 
nobility  of  feeling,  and  its  large,  patient  charity." 

SPEAKER—"  We  trust  that  there  are  few  who  read  it  who  will  fail  to  regard 
its  perusal  as  one  of  the  new  pleasures  of  their  lives.  .  .  .  One  of  those  rare 
stories  which  make  a  direct  appeal  alike  to  the  taste  and  feeling  of  most  men  and 
women,  and  which  afford  a  gratification  that  is  far  greater  than  that  of  mere 
critical  approval.  It  is,  in  plain  English,  a  beautiful  book— beautiful  in  language 
and  in  sentiments,  in  design  and  in  execution.  Its  chief  merit  lies  in  the  fact 
that  Mr.  Allen  has  grasped  the  true  spirit  of  historical  romance,  and  has  shown 
how  fully  he  understands  both  the  links  which  unite,  and  the  time-spaces  which 
divide,  the  different  generations  of  man." 

SATURDAY  REVIEW—  "Mr.  James  Lane  Allen  is  a  writer  who  cannot  well 
put  pen  to  paper  without  revealing  how  finely  sensitive  he  is  to  beauty." 

BOOKMAN — "The  main  interest  is  not  the  revival  of  old  times,  but  a  love- 
story  which  might  be  of  to-day,  or  any  day,  a  story  which  reminds  one  very 
pleasantly  of  Harry  Esmond  and  Lady  Castlewood." 

ATLANTIC  MONTHLY—"  We  think  he  will  be  a  novelist,  perhaps  even  a  great 
novelist — one  of  the  few  who  hold  large  powers  of  divers  sort  in  solution  to  be 
precipitated  in  some  new  unexpected  form." 

GUARDIAN—"  One  of  those  rare  books  that  will  bear  reading  many  times." 

DAILY  NEWS—"  Mr.  J.  L.  Allen  shows  himself  a  delicate  observer,  and  a  fine 
literary  artist  in  The  Choir  Invisible." 

ST.  JAMES'  GAZETTE—"  A  book  that  should  be  read  by  all  those  who  ask  for 
something  beside  sensationalism  in  their  fiction." 

SPECTATOR — "Marked  by  beauty  of  conception,  reticence  of  treatment,  and 
it  has  an  atmosphere  all  its  own." 

DAILY  CHRONICLE— "It  is  written  with  singular  delicacy  and  has  an  old- 
world  fragrance  which  seems  to  come  from  the  classics  we  keep  in  lavender.  .  .  . 
There  are  few  who  can  approach  his  delicate  execution  in  the  painting  of  ideal 
tenderness  and  fleeting  moods. " 

MACMILLAN   AND   CO.,    LTD.,   LONDON 

50.1.98. 


THIS  BOOK  IS  DUE  ON  THE  LAST  DATE 
STAMPED  BELOW 

RENEWED  BOOKS  ARE  SUBJECT  TO  IMMEDIATE 
RECALL 


LIBRARY,  UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA,  DAVIS 

Book  Slip-50m-9, '70  (N9877s8) 458— A-31  /5,6 


N9  813881 


Hamblen,  H.E. 

The  general  manager's 
story. 


LIBRARY 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 
DAVIS 


